Midnight Blues
by Svinorita
Summary: (Prequel to "Anger Loves Sadness"!) Sadness has come down with a really bad case of the blues after Disgust takes out her frustration on her following Riley's recent move to San Francisco. Just when she feels that she hasn't got a friend in the world, she finds comfort from the most unlikely of Emotions...TEARBRICK REQUEST FROM ORANGEBIRD124.
1. California Dreaming

**Hey there dear readers! Svinorita here with another TearBrick request (once again suggested to me by the always supportive and kind Orangebird124). Before we get started, for those of you who have read my previous story called "Anger Loves Sadness", you may remember towards the end of the last chapter when Anger and Sadness hugged and Anger whispered to her "I love you too Sadness…I always have."**

 **Well I was keeping that quote in mind when I decided to start writing this story and I chose to turn this into a kind of prequel to "Anger Loves Sadness." So in this story we will get to see how Anger had already developed a bit of a fondness towards his blue coworker; who had been feeling bluer than usual after the stress of Riley's move to San Francisco and on top of that, Disgust had decided to vent her frustrations out on her blue companion.**

 **Now this story is rated K+ so the romance will not be as intense as in "Anger Loves Sadness", but there will still be some show of affection between our little red and blue friends that could be regarded as a lead up to the events that unfolded later in "Anger loves Sadness."**

 **Okay, that's enough said for now…I hope you decide to read on and enjoy this TearBrick!**

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Chapter 1.

It was a lovely summer morning in San Francisco…or rather it would have been if the delivery van containing all the Andersen family's furniture and valuable possessions had arrived on time like it was supposed to!

It was now the second day after Riley and her parents had moved into their new house and there was still no sign of that wretched moving van or the simpletons driving it! Riley's dad had been on the phone almost every hour since the family had settled into their new home inquiring about their missing belongings, and every time he received the same answer:

"Sorry for the inconvenience Mr. Andersen." Some bored sounding and decidedly unconcerned female receptionist would tell him as Riley's dad; Bill, slapped his forehead with exasperation and cursed silently to himself.

"Our movers are doing the best they can with servicing multiple customers. I'm sure your belongings will arrive sometime later today…or if not, then probably by tomorrow…"

That conversation had taken place two days ago, and this morning as Bill rang the moving company and asked about the whereabouts of their missing property for what seemed like the millionth time, he received the exact same answer. So given the dire situation as it stands, it was no wonder that Riley and her parents couldn't stop and appreciate the beautiful sunny San Francisco morning as everyone was understandably feeling a little on edge.

Well almost everyone…

Inside Riley's Headquarters, Disgust woke up feeling uncharacteristically optimistic and cheerful as she stretched contentedly in her bed and smiled to herself. Although she had had her own reservations about this whole move from their old life in Minnesota, the green Emotion convinced herself that maybe this whole venture wasn't such a huge misgiving after all.

This was an opportunity for Riley and her fellow Emotions to enter an exciting new phase in their young lives…now that they were living in the big city surrounded by all those trendy people and warm weather year-round, Disgust thought that it was time Riley received a new image!

After all, their host was a teenager now and it was time to ditch all those outdated childhood fancies like stuffed toys and bland dress-sense. Now was the time to start thinking about fashion and makeup and hot guys…oh yes! Disgust had it all planned for their girl…and what better time to make some lifestyle changes than after moving to another state?!

So with her head full of the endless possibilities she could offer to their host, Disgust hopped out of bed and prepared herself for the new day. She put on her favorite green dress and brushed her hair thoroughly before getting out her makeup bag and expertly applying her makeup for the day.

Once all the foundation, lip gloss, eye shadow and mascara were in place, the green Emotion headed out her bedroom door and made her way briskly to the main room. As she walked down the ramp leading from the Emotions' private sleeping quarters into the main room, Disgust put her own unique twist on a classic hippie anthem as she sang cheerfully to herself:

"If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some hairspray and highlights in your hair…"

The green Emotion stopped at the bottom of the ramp and the smile melted from her pretty face as she surveyed the scene that greeted her upon her arrival…

It seems that her fellow Emotions didn't share her laid-back attitude this morning as they all reacted to the news of the delayed moving van in their own ways:

Anger was pacing in a wide circle near the console with the mother of all frowns plastered on his furious red face as a menacing cluster of sparks appeared on top of his head and trailed behind him.

The stout red Emotion had his newspaper in one hand and in his rage, he ended up scrunching it into a mangled mess of pages as he shot a look of contempt at the monitor and fumed, "This is beyond a joke! If I get my hands on those dimwit movers I am going to kick their butts into next week! Let's see how long it takes for our stuff to arrive then!"

Disgust rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Sadness, who was slumped in a corner over by the Mind Manuals crying so hard that she had started to hiccup.

"Poor Riley…" the blue Emotion wailed in between sobs and hiccups as a sizable puddle began forming on the floor around her.

"All her friends are back in Minnesota and she had to leave her old hockey team behind!"

A cross between a sob and a hiccup escaped from Sadness as she worked herself into a whole other level of melancholy, "Oh…we start school tomorrow! What if everything ends up being awful and the local kids don't like Riley…that would be soooo sad…."

Disgust shook her head in irritation and felt her previously positive mood beginning to sour as her gaze fell on Fear, who was curled into a tight ball on the couch, hugging his legs to his chest as he whimpered, "Oh not again! Riley has to sleep on the floor another night?! Who knows what nasty things crawl around on the ground at night…?"

Suddenly his eyes darted around the room fitfully as an icy shiver rolled down his spine. In a small panicky voice he whined, "What if a tarantula crawls onto Riley while she's sleeping?!"

Joy meanwhile was running around like a headless chicken as she rushed from one Emotion to another, doing her best to calm everyone down and restore order.

First she went up to Fear and gently placed a reassuring hand on his trembling shoulder as she whispered empathically, "Fear dear…"

The yellow Emotion let out a little laugh at the unintentional rhyme and insisted, "…there are no tarantulas in San Francisco."

She felt him relax ever so slightly and turned her attention over to Anger, who was still stomping around and ranting, his newspaper nothing more than a shredded trail of paper around him.

Sighing gloomily to herself Joy offered helpfully, "Anger please try to calm down. Our stuff will be here soon enough okay?"

Anger huffed stubbornly and halted his agitated pacing for a minute, settling for staring crossly at the monitor as he ground his teeth and slowly clenched and unclenched his fists.

There was a loud wail of misery followed by a succession of hiccups coming from the vicinity of the Mind Manuals, and Joy gave a deflated moan as she turned to face Sadness.

With a controlled smile on her face the yellow Emotion said softly, "Sadness sweetie…everything will work out just fine, I promise! Now please stop crying or you'll give yourself a headache."

Sadness looked back at her friend apologetically and wept, "I can't help it Joy…*hiccup!*…I'm in the midst of a sadness spiral!"

The blue Emotion buried her face in her hands and let out a long moan of misery, which ended in a very loud hiccup. Over on the couch, Fear got so startled that he shrieked in fright and practically jumped 6 feet straight into the air!

Joy sighed and gave her blue companion a sympathetic smile as she urged, "Oh you poor thing! Try drinking a glass of water to clear up those hiccups."

Disgust had been watching this drama unfold silently and by now her mood was definitely soured as she felt an irritating tic develop in one eye and she groaned to herself in frustration. It seems her plan to help take Riley's mind off the stressful move by introducing some glamor into her life starting from today, had just gone out the window thanks to her overacting coworkers!

And as if to prove that their actions were having a negative effect on Riley, Disgust glanced over at the monitor and surely enough her suspicions were confirmed. Although she couldn't actually _see_ Riley's facial expression from the point of view monitor, Disgust thought she could piece together a pretty accurate image based on the growls of frustration she heard coming from their stressed-out host.

Disgust herself felt a growl of annoyance escape from her throat as she whipped around and glared crossly at the other Emotions.

"THAT'S ENOUGH FROM ALL OF YOU!" She shouted at the top of her voice and the others all stopped what they were doing and stared back at their infuriated green coworker curiously. Disgust was not one to usually lose her cool like that and even Anger looked stunned as he stared at her with a questioning look on his face.

Seizing the moment, Disgust pointed at the monitor angrily and snapped, "You are all out of control! Look what you are doing to Riley!"

The other Emotions glanced at the monitor and noticed that Riley appeared to be experiencing a combination of all their current feelings: first she growled and grumbled something under her breath like Anger had done only moments ago.

Then for no apparent reason, she started shaking and shivering as she scanned the floor frantically as though she expected to find a tarantula lurking in the corner somewhere.

Finally, there was the unmistakable sound of sniffling and sobbing as Riley's hand obscured the whole screen while she wiped the tears that had begun streaming from her eyes.

The other Emotions all looked at the floor in guilt and remained silent as Disgust settled her gaze onto Joy and urged her yellow coworker in a chiding tone, "Joy do something! Anything! Make Riley look outside at the beautiful sunny morning! We are living in the city now…she should be feeling happy!"

Joy gave a reluctant nod and wordlessly went up to the console and pushed a few buttons. The console lit up with a pleasant yellow glow as Riley registered Joy's input and walked over to her bedroom window, taking in the view properly for the first time since arriving in San Francisco.

Riley's gaze fell on the house immediately to her right and she saw a rather heavy-set old lady sitting on her balcony holding a very fluffy brown cat lovingly in her arms. As Riley watched with a tiny smile, she noticed two other cats, one ginger and the other gray and white milling around the old lady's feet as she reached over to her windowsill and took a sip of her coffee.

Suddenly the elderly woman looked over in Riley's direction and instantly her wrinkly face was lit with a huge smile, as she gave her young neighbor a friendly wave.

Riley smiled fondly and returned the wave as a feeling of contentment washed over her for the time being.

Back inside Headquarters, Disgust breathed a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "Finally! Sanity is restored around here!"

Then she planted her hands on her hips and glared irritably at her fellow Emotions.

"What were you all thinking?" She reprimanded crossly. "Riley should be feeling excited at all the wonderful opportunities this move has opened up for her…not fretting about our furniture arriving late!"

The others remained silent and shuffled their feet uncomfortably as Disgust got a dreamy look in her eyes and smirked knowingly to herself.

With an undisguised air of confidence about her, the green Emotion flicked a strand of hair casually out of her face and informed sassily, "Personally I think this move was great! Sure I had my doubts about it at first like the rest of you…"

She paused to survey the faces of her coworkers, which ranged from an unimpressed frown from Anger, to wide-eyed trepidation from Fear and a hesitant smile from Joy. Sadness was still moping pitifully near the back of the room and Disgust felt a twinge of annoyance flare up inside her at the prospect of being ignored by her blue coworker.

But for now she turned her attention back to lecturing the others as she continued coolly, "…But if you all just stop and think about it for a minute, then you'll see that this whole change is actually a blessing in disguise for Riley!"

Now everyone was looking at her with even more confusion than before and Disgust let out a small sigh of irritation as she prompted edgily, "Oh come on! Do I seriously have to spell everything out for you morons?!"

The green Emotion held up her hand and started listing all the positive things about moving to San Francisco off her fingers:

"Goodbye freezing cold winters and snow."

"Goodbye heavy unfashionable winter coats and gloves."

"Hello sunshine and warm weather all year round."

"Hello exciting city life and trendy people!"

Joy stepped up to her green colleague and challenged in a calm but firm voice, "That's all well and good for some people Disgust. But you have to try and understand that not everybody handles big life changes the same way."

Disgust narrowed her eyes at the Lead Emotion but Joy was not one to be intimidated easily, and she continued calmly, "You tend to get bored quickly and are always looking for something new and fast-paced…whether it be fashion or other aspects in Riley's life."

Joy gave her a sincere smile and added, "There's nothing wrong with that. That is just your individual personality and it's what makes you unique. But we are not all like you Disgust…some of us are Emotions of habit and we take longer to adjust to big changes than you might. For example…"

Joy turned to address the others as well as she pointed out helpfully, "…Sadness likes familiarity. When she feels comfortable in her surroundings, she is less likely to start obsessing over every little problem and work herself into a crying fit. Fear is similar in that when he is used to his surroundings, he can anticipate where potential danger might be and he becomes less jumpy. Anger too seems to control his temper better when Riley's daily routine is consistent and everything is running smoothly."

Disgust waited until her yellow coworker had finished her speech and pouted stubbornly before sniping, "Oh and what about you then, Miss Perfect? I don't suppose you just go with the flow while the rest of us are obviously stuck in our own little pitfalls huh?"

Joy's smile wavered slightly as she tried to ignore the bitter edge in Disgust's remark and replied as cheerfully as she could, "Most of the time I do! Maybe that's why I'm in charge around here…"

Unfortunately, Joy's light-hearted comment backfired in a big way as it seemed to push Disgust's growing irritation over the edge and the green Emotion glared resentfully at all of her coworkers.

"Oh I see where this is going!" she seethed in a shrill voice as a frown even deeper than Anger usually produced spread across her brow and her emerald-colored eyes flashed with fury.

"Everyone else around here is good and I am made out to be the bad girl right?! Well you know what? I think that I am the only one who can really help Riley adjust to her new life here! If I had my way, I would make her see the world through my eyes and then she would have been happy in this wonderful place by now! But instead the rest of you are just succeeding in confusing her!"

Realizing her mistake, Joy put a gentle hand on Disgust's shoulder and tried her best to calm down her enraged friend. Giving her the most apologetic look she could, Joy offered softly, "Come now Disgust. I'm sorry if what I said upset you…I didn't mean it that way!"

Disgust shot her a look of absolute contempt and shrugged off her hand roughly. "Don't touch me! I know exactly what you meant and I have had enough with all of your selfish moping! The fact is you're all making Riley miserable right now!"

The others were all shocked into silence by Disgust's furious tirade and the only sound was coming from Sadness, who was once again weeping and wailing in the corner, this time from the hostility rising in the room.

Disgust let out a furious growl and turned to vent her frustration out on her blue coworker as she felt her rage reach a boiling point.

"Will you just shut up already?!" She screamed at Sadness as the others all gasped from the harshness and bite in the green Emotion's voice.

"You are really starting to get on my nerves Sadness! Look at you! You are a blubbering mess!"

Sadness looked up timidly at her angry friend and stuttered through her sobs, "I…I'm sor…sorry…"

Disgust crossed her arms and spat back, "So you should be! Isn't it time you grow up and snap out of this?!"

A cruel smirk appeared on Disgust's face as she sniped, "And while we are on the subject, don't you think it's time you changed your image too? Because you look as if you are permanently stuck in the 1970s with that bulky sweater and those huge glasses! In fact when I look at you, I am reminded of Velma from Scooby Doo!"

Disgust put on a wimpy, melancholy voice as she imitated Sadness, "Here Scooby! I have a Scooby Snack for you!"

Sadness sniffled and looked away in shame as Disgust added coldly, "And by the way, there is such a thing as contact lenses you know…!"

"Disgust! That's enough!" Anger commanded as he stepped forward and shot the green Emotion a withering look. The others all stared at their short red coworker in surprise and even Disgust took an instinctive step back at the contempt in Anger's voice.

Sadness was still feeling too ashamed of herself to notice that Anger had just blatantly stood up for her, and she continued weeping mournfully in her corner as her tears formed a large puddle around her feet.

After the shock of being reprimanded wore off, Disgust felt her irritation reach a whole new level of nastiness and she directed her frustration on her red coworker.

"Enough of what Mr. Know-it-all?!" She placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward so that she was eye-level with Anger and spat sarcastically, "Enough pounds on your body?! In case you haven't noticed, both you and Sadness are a little on the chunky side…maybe you two should consider working out a bit more! You could both stand to lose a few pounds!"

Now Joy stepped in between the two quarreling Emotions and demanded in her most authoritative voice, "THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Fear yelped from the sudden explosiveness of Joy's command and dove behind the sofa, curling into a fetal position and shivering tremendously as he pleaded silently for this nightmarish morning to end.

Anger ignored the fact that Joy had placed herself in between him and the object of his fury and glared daggers at Disgust, his teeth clenched and chest heaving from his agitated breathing.

Disgust just raised an eyebrow nonchalantly at Joy before crossing her arms stubbornly and turning her head to the side in dismissal.

Joy addressed her green coworker with simple directness as she stated, "To you everything is about image! Not everyone is modelled on Barbie or Ken you know…"

Disgust gave no indication that she cared and absently waved her arm as if shooing a fly. "Whatever!" She mumbled sarcastically.

Joy gave an exasperated sigh and went on with firm persistence, "We are not in the Entertainment Business here…we are in the Emotional Business! And those snide comments you threw at Sadness were really uncalled for and insensitive."

She glanced over at Sadness, who was staring dejectedly at the floor and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Sadness is the kindest, most gentle Emotion I have ever known and I know that you mean well and just want to help Riley in your own way Disgust. We all do! But it wasn't fair for you to take out your frustrations on her."

Joy shot Anger a quick look and added helpfully, "As for Anger, those few extra pounds will probably turn into muscle as he gets older…?"

She gave the red Emotion an encouraging smile and shrugged innocently as he glared back at her with a slightly baffled expression on his face. Anger seemed to consider this theory thoughtfully for a minute, and finally he nodded slowly in agreement.

"Well said Joy." He affirmed in a casual tone.

Then his eyes flashed with contempt as he threw a spiteful look at Disgust and snarled, "Back off Disgust! Otherwise you'll be joining those dimwit moving men on my hit list!"

Disgust tried to appear indifferent to the situation, but already she felt the rage inside her give way to guilt as Joy's words sank in. She didn't really mean to say those nasty things to Sadness or anyone for that matter. It's just that she woke up feeling so hopeful and excited about what today might bring, and as soon as she'd come down here to join the others, she was greeted with chaos and disorder!

Something about that whole scenario had just pushed her over the edge and she lashed out without really intending to. It was as though a switch had been thrown inside her head and seeing everyone overacting over something as trivial as their furniture arriving late, (at least it sounded trivial to her) when there were so many positive things to focus on instead, had annoyed her so much that Disgust just lost her cool in a really bad way.

And Sadness in particular had been carrying on and moping over the smallest things ever since they moved to San Francisco, that Disgust had chosen to direct the brunt of her frustration on her…

Disgust groaned dismally to herself and her heart felt heavy with remorse. She knew the way she had acted had been the wrong thing to do…but why did Sadness always have to break down over everything like that?!

Disgust knew she should apologize to her blue coworker at some point, but she decided that now was not the time or the place. All the other Emotions were watching her and after her overpowering show of force, she couldn't show weakness in front of them now. That would make her a hypocrite and Disgust was too proud by nature to allow something like that to tarnish her image.

Joy was looking at her expectantly. Disgust decided she wasn't going to give her yellow companion the satisfaction of letting her know that she had overacted herself, and still avoiding eye contact, the green Emotion gave a petulant grunt and grumbled something incoherent to herself.

Joy's shoulders slouched in defeat and she gave a disappointed sigh, but she decided not to press the matter any further. Disgust would come around and acknowledge her mistake in her own time…

The yellow Emotion turned to look at the spot where Sadness had been crying all this time, and to her surprise she found that the little blue Emotion had disappeared while everyone was concentrating on Disgust.

 _Poor Sadness…_ Joy mused to herself miserably.

 _She must have gone and locked herself in her room because she thinks she's a burden to the rest of us…_

Anger followed Joy's gaze to the spot previously occupied by Sadness and felt a pang of regret stab at his heart. He too stared forlornly at the large puddle left by the blue Emotion's tears and he let out a gloomy sigh.

 _Why didn't I stand up for her sooner…?_

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 **Author's Note: WARNING: This Author's Note is really long!**

 **I know, I know…You are all probably thinking: "Svinorita, this doesn't look like a TearBrick!"**

 **I know this opening chapter didn't feature much Anger/Sadness interactions and virtually zero romance but please try and bear with me! I promise there will be more focus on Anger and Sadness as the story progresses but for this first chapter I felt like I had to set the mood by giving Sadness a really bad case of the blues…cue Disgust!**

 **Now don't get me wrong people. I like Disgust and I don't mean any disrespect to her character by making her appear nasty and insensitive. It's just that she is a very image-driven character that is not afraid to speak her mind and sometimes she doesn't necessarily realize that her words can be hurtful to those around her.**

 **Just like I hopefully attempted to portray in this chapter, she means well by Riley and by her friends and she has her own ideas about how things should work. But like with this chapter, sometimes those plans are thrown out the window when the other Emotions don't share her current objective and this can make her feel annoyed and cause her to lash out (like she did to Sadness) even though she doesn't mean to.**

 **Anyway my point is Disgust is cool and I hope I didn't offend any serious Disgust fans out there by making her appear too nasty :)**

 **In fact I'll let you all in on a little secret about where I really drew my inspiration from when I made Disgust go on her tirade at the other Emotions…**

 **That particular part of the story was inspired by 3 real life women in my life (who, if this were like the movie "Inside Out" would all be driven by Disgust!) They are my Grandmother, my Aunt and a family friend from work.**

 **Now before you label me as some crazy lady who calls her grandma and aunt wicked, allow me to give you an example:**

 **My 'Aunt' is a complete self-centered, nasty piece of work that verbally abused me throughout my teenage years and destroyed my confidence and self-esteem.**

 **My grandmother is not as nasty as her, but she is still unbelievably selfish and image-obsessed. For instance one day she was walking down the street with bags of groceries in both hands when she passed a clothing store window selling trendy outfits for twenty-something year olds. Anyway, she got so distracted by those fancy clothes that she tripped over a rock on the sidewalk and fell on one of her shopping bags that had a big bottle of water in it and ended up cracking her rib. But she didn't care about that…the only thing she was worried about was whether she knocked any teeth out! (I am not making this up people! This really did happen!)**

 **Okay that's enough about my personal life! Back to the story: Like I said I needed to give Sadness a really bad case of the blues (as this is a hurt/comfort story as well as romance) so that Anger could play his part later on and that's where the real TearBrick begins!**

 **So I hope you decide to stick around and find out what happens later on! Orangebird124, thank you for sharing this suggestion with me and I hope I am doing you justice with this request :)**

 **Svinorita**


	2. I Can't Go On

Chapter 2.

Early the next morning, Disgust walked cautiously into the main room to join the other Emotions for her morning duties. The green Emotion rubbed her tired eyes with her hands and in doing so, ended up smearing her eyeshadow rather unflatteringly across her face. Normally this would have bothered her deeply but not this morning...

Disgust stared at the smudged makeup on her hands and gave a resigned moan as she took out a facial wipe from her makeup bag and started cleaning her face listlessly. Now she was going to have to reapply all her daily makeup again! But as inconvenient as this setback was, it seemed trivial compared to the other problem that had kept her awake all night…

Disgust had hardly managed to shut her eyes, let alone sleep last night and that was at least in part what led her to so carelessly smudge her makeup in the first place! The green Emotion couldn't stop thinking about her performance yesterday and the harsh words she aimed at her coworkers…

Especially Sadness.

Although she would never admit it to the others, Disgust had been racked with guilt ever since she took out her frustration on her blue colleague, and that guilt had prevented her from getting a wink of sleep last night. Looking back on it now, she knew that her words had been full of bite and that she came across as more critical than she should have…but deep down she meant everything she said with the best of intentions!

 _It's just that the girl is in desperate need of an image overhaul_! Disgust thought to herself with mounting irritation as she flicked a stray bit of hair out of her face edgily.

And as unlikely as it sounds, maybe Disgust was actually trying to do Sadness a favor by pointing out the painfully obvious flaws in her behavior ( _and appearance…_ the green Emotion couldn't help thinking with a petulant sigh as she took out her portable makeup mirror and started putting on a fresh layer of eyeshadow), when she said those harsh things yesterday!

Sure. Disgust had noticed the looks of disapproval she had received from the other Emotions when Sadness had run off and shut herself in her room for the remainder of the day. In fact the others refused to have anything to do with her following her little tirade that morning, and if there's one thing Disgust can't stand above all else, it's being ignored!

It's not that she was insensitive and that she didn't care about the impact her words had had on the little blue Emotion…Sadness was naturally so sweet and gentle that no one would intentionally say or do anything to hurt her!

The truth was that Disgust had felt awful and angry with herself for reacting the way she did and she knew deep in her heart that she needed to apologize to Sadness. But another part of her mind couldn't help feeling annoyed that the others had made her out to be the villain in Headquarters just because she had the audacity to speak her mind when they were all carrying on so immaturely about the delayed moving van!

 _I mean, it's not my fault that the other Emotions just don't get me!_ She mused irritably as she ran her fingers through her shiny green hair briskly.

 _I only try to do what I believe is the right thing by Riley and the others! If they can't see eye-to-eye with me on certain things, then that's their problems!_

These thoughts were going through Disgust's head as she headed down the ramp leading into the main room and she was so wrapped up in her own mental reflections that she failed to notice Sadness walking towards her as she prepared to leave the room and retire to her private sleeping quarters after taking Dream Duty last night.

The two Emotions nearly collided with each other as Disgust stepped off the ramp, her attention fixed on her makeup mirror as she did a final check to make sure everything looked perfect and that there wasn't a strand of hair out of place, that she almost bumped into the short blue Emotion as she was about to go up the ramp.

"Hey! Watch where you're going you clumsy…" Disgust started to protest, then she looked up from her mirror and saw that it was Sadness that she had almost walked into. She caught herself and her expression fell as the guilt from yesterday came flooding back.

Forcing a smile, the green Emotion looked apologetically at her blue coworker and began stuttering like Fear as she offered, "Oh…um…Sadness it's you! Listen…I didn't mean what I said just then…I thought you were Anger or someone else…"

Sadness looked at the floor miserably and deliberately avoiding eye-contact she mumbled, "Don't worry about it…"

"Oh…well…okay then…" Disgust replied uncomfortably, kneading her fingers together and unsure about how to proceed.

Sadness made no attempt to step around her green colleague and just continued staring dismally at the floor, as if waiting for Disgust to say something more. (Either that, or she expected Disgust to move out of _her_ way…?)

But seeing as how Sadness is so gentle and courteous towards others, Disgust decided that it must be the former of the two possible scenarios. So seizing the opportunity to make some amends, she tried to give her blue companion a friendly smile and leaning forward, took a deep sniff of Sadness' glossy blue hair.

"Ummm…your hair smells great Sadness!" Disgust commented as she ran her hand through the little Emotion's smooth, silky hair.

Sadness looked at her with a confused expression but remained silent as Disgust tried to put on her most convincing smile.

"No, seriously! I mean it! Did you use a different type of shampoo recently?" She admired as Sadness looked away forlornly again.

"No." she sniffled.

Disgust waited for her to say more but apparently Sadness had no intention of elaborating on her answer.

The corner of Disgust's mouth twitched slightly as she fought back a twinge of irritation at her companion's lack of interest in her attempts to be nice to her, but she tried to remain impassive as she offered sweetly, "Well if at any time you decide that you want to do something different with your hair, feel free to come to me for some tips!"

She gave Sadness a gentle squeeze on the shoulder and encouraged, "Don't hesitate to ask! I'll be more than happy to help!"

"Okay…" Sadness mumbled with disinterest whilst still avoiding eye-contact.

Then without another word she stepped around Disgust sluggishly and shuffled off towards her room.

Disgust stared blankly at the spot where Sadness had been standing for a few seconds after the blue Emotion had gone. Finally she shrugged dismissively and continued making her way over to the console.

 _Oh well…_ she told herself mentally. _I tried._

In her mind, Disgust believed that she truly _did_ make an effort at apologizing to Sadness just now and already she felt some of the former guilt being lifted off her shoulders. Whether Sadness decided to accept her apology or not, was up to her but Disgust was feeling rather pleased with herself as she passed by the kitchen on her way to the controls and saw Fear and Anger talking inside.

It was pretty unusual for those two to be having a conversation with each other that didn't involve yelling and random objects being thrown around the room…so with her curiosity piqued, Disgust decided to make a little detour and find out what they were gossiping about.

As she strolled purposefully towards the kitchen, Fear glanced up and saw her approaching. He promptly elbowed Anger to hush him…unfortunately his elbow happened to be eye-level with the short red Emotion and Anger ended up getting elbowed in the eye, much to his contempt as he gave Fear a threatening growl and raised his fist menacingly as if to punch him in the guts.

Fear flinched instinctively and indicated with his head in Disgust's direction. Anger shot a quick look at the advancing green Emotion and his face went slack as he instantly averted his gaze and pretended to study his feet.

"Oh hi boys!" Disgust said innocently as she walked up to them.

"Did I interrupt anything?"

Fear rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Oh n-no…not at all…" he stuttered and quickly looked away from her probing eyes uncomfortably.

Disgust nodded slowly and stared at the other two Emotions intensely. She was testing them to see if they would crack under her persistent gaze, but so far they were both doing a pretty good job of keeping their secrets…

Anger's eyes remained fixated on his feet almost as though he was hoping that if he ignored her, Disgust would lose interest and go away.

 _Oh boy…talk about being caught red-handed! She's onto us! Little Miss Snobby knows that Beanpole and I have been talking about her!_ He thought frantically as he hesitantly glanced up and confirmed that she was indeed still standing there, looking as smug as ever.

Disgust waited a few seconds more before shrugging nonchalantly. "Well whatever."

Then she fixed both Emotions with her most sincere look as she stated apologetically, "Look guys, I know that I may have overreacted and said some really harsh things to all of you yesterday, but I just bumped into Sadness on my way here and I kind of apologized…"

She batted her long eyelashes at them in a flirtatious way and added, "I mean, I don't think I really offended you guys' right?"

Anger and Fear shuffled their feet uncomfortably and refused to make eye-contact with the green Emotion as she probed deeper…

She turned her attention to Anger and addressed him with a hint of admiration in her voice, "Anger, I know I said that you should work out more, but I meant it in a good way! You misunderstood my point! With a bit of exercise you could really tone those muscles and end up looking quite handsome!"

Anger grunted noncommittally. Yeah right! He could see through her act and fake charm! She plainly insulted him yesterday and she was doing it again right now!

But even before he finished thinking those thoughts, he was already picturing himself looking buff and toned…

 _Maybe I_ _should_ _try incorporating some work-out time into my daily routine…?_ He thought as a sly smile crept across his face.

Disgust couldn't help smiling to herself in satisfaction. Convincing Anger of her innocence had turned out to be a piece of cake! Now she just had to work on the others…

She focused her attention on Fear, who was fiddling with his hands nervously and fixed him a sweet smile.

"As for you Fear…" her brow creased in thought before she shrugged dismissively, "I don't recall saying anything to you actually…"

Despite the obvious relief he felt that he had dodged Disgust's criticism, Fear couldn't help feeling slightly miffed that she had so blatantly overlooked him.

 _As usual no one ever pays attention to me…_ the purple Emotion mused dejectedly.

Disgust was feeling rather pleased with herself that she had gotten some of the guilt of her chest, and she gave the other two Emotions a small nod of approval.

"Great! I'm glad that's settled then!"

Fear cleared his throat softly and said, "Its all well and good apologizing to us Disgust but I think it was Sadness' feelings who you hurt the most yesterday."

He looked up timidly into her intense emerald-colored eyes and ventured, "You know how gentle and shy she is…maybe you shouldn't have been so harsh on her?"

Disgust threw up her hands in exasperation and declared with more hostility in her voice than she intended, "But she _always_ cries! Don't any of you find that as frustrating as I do?!"

Fear gulped nervously and muttered guiltily, "Well she does…"

A slightly cross look appeared in his gray eyes as he confessed, "The other day she asked to borrow my honey when she was making her tea and she started crying for no reason and her tears fell into the jar and made my honey salty!"

"Yuck!" Disgust stated whilst pulling a face. "You see? That's what I'm talking about! She always ends up getting her tears on everything and causing a mess!"

She gave Fear a sympathetic look. "She even ruined your honey…"

Fear shook his head and chuckled, which took Disgust by surprise. Was he laughing at her?! What was the meaning of this?!

Narrowing her eyes questioningly at the purple Emotion, she pouted petulantly, "What's so funny Wise Guy? Do you care to let me in on your little joke?"

Fear waved his hand dismissively and explained in a light-hearted way, "It turns out, I actually like the taste of salted caramel! So having Sadness cry into my honey jar wasn't such a bad thing after all!"

"Urgh! That sounds revolting!" Disgust exclaimed as she turned a shade greener.

Fear shrugged and insisted, "No really! It's actually really nice! Even salted honey! So you see, I don't really mind her crying that much!"

Now Anger stepped forward and glared at Disgust threateningly.

"And you shouldn't pick on her weight either!" he demanded protectively.

"Not everyone likes stick-thin girls you know! Sure, Sadness is a little plumpish…"

A confident smile spread across Anger's face as he gestured to himself and proclaimed, "But personally, I prefer my girls to be soft and cuddly!"

"Oh, you two are impossible!" Disgust huffed indignantly as her voice went up an octave in her irritation.

"Say whatever you want if it makes you feel better, but personally I am so sick of Sadness' cry-baby attitude!"

Suddenly the three Emotions were interrupted by a loud sob followed by the sound of shattering ceramic coming from the entrance to the kitchen. All three turned just in time to see the edge of a white sweater disappearing beyond the doorway and into the main room.

About two seconds later, Joy's concerned voice echoed around Headquarters as she gave chase to her blue coworker, "Sadness! Wait up sweetie! What happened?!"

Disgust, Anger and Fear looked at each other uncomfortably and all three hurried to the doorway, where they found the remains of Sadness' shattered coffee mug on the floor. Looking up remorsefully, Disgust saw a yellow streak dash across the room as Joy ran after Sadness, calling desperately as the little blue Emotion headed for the Recall Tube.

XXX

Joy caught up to her just as Sadness was about to step into the Recall Tube leading out of Headquarters.

"Sadness stop! What happened?" Joy cried out as she put a hand on the blue Emotion's shoulder and gently pulled her away from the Recall Tube.

Putting herself in-between Sadness and the Tube, Joy knelt down so she was eye-level with the shorter Emotion and gazed into her teary blue eyes pleadingly.

"Come on sweetie. Tell me what's wrong…" Joy crooned softly as she gave her friend's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Sadness looked away from her caring gaze in shame and blubbered inconsolably, "Oh Joy! I can't go on like this anymore! I'm just a nuisance to everybody! I better go and lock myself up in the Subconscious with Jangles the Clown! Everyone hates me anyway…!"

She trailed off into a long wail of misery and only Joy's quick reflexes prevented her from face-planting on the floor as she her feet slid out from under her and she prepared to launch herself into one of her major crying fits.

"Whoa there! Hold your horses young lady!" Joy exclaimed as she gently slid her hands under Sadness' arms and propped her into a sitting position in front of her.

"You know that's not true! I am your friend and I love you! And don't forget that Riley needs you in her life too! You are important!"

Joy took the blue Emotion's hand in hers and gave it an encouraging squeeze. "Take a deep breath and tell me what happened okay?"

Sadness glanced up at Joy's warm smile with her puppy eyes before looking back to the floor in misery as she sobbed, "The others were talking about me again! Fear said that I cried into his honey jar and turned his honey salty! Anger said that I'm plump and Disgust said that my crying makes her sick!"

With that Sadness let out another heartbreaking wail and slumped forward limply onto Joy's chest.

"I'm awful! All I do is get in everyone's way and make a mess of things! I deserve to be in the Subconscious!"

Joy rubbed Sadness reassuringly on the back and let her cry onto her dress. "Shhhhh…It's okay."

Within no time, the little blue Emotion's tears soaked through her dress and Joy gave a gloomy sigh.

"You're not awful Sadness." She whispered softly as Sadness' crying slowly subsided into a few deep sobs. Some of the sobs turned into hiccups and Sadness moaned pitifully.

"You're gentle and sweet and caring…and sometimes just misunderstood!"

A glint of determination appeared in Joy's eye and she announced defensively, "You know what? Let's go talk to the others about this right now!"

"No Joy!" Sadness begged as she grabbed the yellow Emotion's arm desperately.

"I'd rather be by myself right now…"

The hard, angry look in Joy's eyes softened once more as she looked back down at her little friend compassionately.

"No chance! I'm not leaving you." Joy stated firmly.

Then she offered Sadness a welcoming smile and said, "We are going to spend the rest of the day together and do anything you want! You deserve to have some fun! Just tell me where you would like to go or what you want to do and we'll do it!"

Sadness was silent for a while as she stared questioningly into Joy's caring blue eyes. Why was Joy being so nice to her all of a sudden? Everyone else seemed to hate her but Joy wanted to go out of her way to make her feel better? Sadness couldn't decide if Joy was genuinely feeling sorry for her or if she was just acting out of nature – seeing as how her role in life is to make Riley and everybody around her feel happy…

Whatever the reason, the blue Emotion felt grateful for Joy's companionship right now. It didn't really matter if she was doing her a favor out of the goodness of her heart or simply out of duty, it made Sadness feel better knowing that she has at least one friend looking out for her!

With a weak smile, Sadness asked timidly, "Has the Train of Thought arrived with the morning deliveries yet?"

Joy looked in the direction of the loading zone and shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of…why do you ask?"

Sadness felt her cheeks blushing as she offered shyly, "Well…I suppose…if it isn't too much trouble…I wouldn't mind taking a ride on the Train of Thought today…"

Joy nodded and gave her a wide smile. "Well if that's what you want, then that's what we're going to do!"

She took Sadness by the hand and eased her up onto her feet as she stated excitedly, "We are going to ride that Train around the Mind World all day long and I'll be holding your hand until you've calmed down…"

"Wha…what about Riley?" Sadness asked with concern as Joy led her to the delivery loading zone to wait for the Train of Thought to arrive.

"Oh don't worry about Riley…" Joy assured her with a sly smile.

"Disgust, Anger and Fear can take care of Riley for the day since they created this mess! Meanwhile you and I are going to spend some time together and get you sorted out!"

Joy stopped and looked at Sadness with a kind expression on her cheerful yellow face. "And if you're not feeling up for it, I can take your next shift of Dream Duty!"

"Oh no…I really don't mind doing Dream Duty!" Sadness said with open honesty.

"That's the only time I ever really feel calm and peaceful…you know when Riley is sleeping soundly and everything is quiet and still."

Sadness smiled fondly and admitted, "I especially enjoy those nights when there's a full moon and I can see the stars clearly. I love watching stars! Sometimes I even get to see a shooting star and I feel like I can almost catch it in my hand…"

Suddenly they heard the sound of a horn alerting them that the Train of Thought had arrived to drop off today's deliveries. Smiling warmly at her blue companion, Joy walked over to the conductor and told him what they wanted to do.

She returned to Sadness after a few minutes and gave her an elated nod and a thumbs up sign. Sadness smiled back and it was the first genuine smile she had managed for as long as she could remember!

Then the two Emotions boarded the Train of Thought hand-in-hand…

 _To Be Continued…_

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **This chapter is actually still in progress, but I decided that I was going to have to split it into two parts because it would have ended up way too long…(what else is new?)**

 **So there's good news for those of you TearBrick fans who are reading/enjoying this story so far…Even as I posted this first part, I'm already working on the second part and it should be ready in a few days' time! Once again I know there wasn't much Anger/Sadness interaction in this chapter but I promise that FINALLY we'll get to see some TearBrick in the next chapter :)**

 **I know a few of you have been wondering if Disgust was going to apologize to Sadness, so I devoted a large section of this chapter to dealing with Disgust's** _ **attempt**_ **at an apology and the rest consisted on some sisterly love and friendship between Joy and Sadness…**

 **So be sure to stick around and I can promise some TearBrick action in the next chapter as well as fun and tenderness in the following chapters!**

 **Once again I would like to thank the following people for your wonderful reviews:**

 **Orangebird124, HollyAnne1084, Tripledent and Justin Bonesteel :)**

 **And thank you to everyone around the world for reading! Now I am taking my final bow and I'm off to write the second part…**

 **For now Hasta La Vista (I'll Be Back!)**

 **Svinorita**


	3. Hold On, Be Strong!

**Note:**

 **Here is the rest of what was originally meant to be chapter 2, but I had to post as a separate chapter due to length…enjoy everyone :)**

* * *

Chapter 3.

After a day filled with tension and high Emotional alert, Sadness decided that she wanted to take a second consecutive night of Dream Duty. At first, this demand sounded strange to Joy, who did her best to talk her blue friend out of it. But after listening solemnly to Sadness' plea, she soon discovered that the distraught little Emotion had her reasons...

Tonight had initially been Joy's turn to do Dream Duty, but all throughout their ride on the Train of Thought together, Sadness had begged her yellow companion to let her take her shift.

" _Please Joy!"_ The blue Emotion had insisted with pleading eyes. _"I know I had Dream Duty last night, but I would really like to take tonight's shift as well!"_

" _But Sadness! You need to get some rest!"_ Joy had protested with concern in her bright blue eyes.

" _You've been through a lot today and a good night's rest would do you a world of good…"_

Sadness had glanced down at the floor of the carriage they were riding in dejectedly. Then with her voice full of yearning, she had answered gloomily, _"I can always close my eyes and catch a few minutes of sleep now and then. It's just that tonight is supposed to be a full moon and that's my favorite time to be on Dream Duty…"_

She let out a dreamy sigh and whispered more to herself than to Joy, _"I like to look at the stars and loose myself in their beauty…sometimes I even image that I'm one of them and that makes me feel beautiful too…"_

" _Oh Sadness…"_ Joy felt like her heart was breaking for her friend's loneliness and sorrow. She just wanted to help Sadness feel better about herself and as reluctant as she was about letting her friend run herself into the ground from exhaustion, she realized that Sadness needed some time alone to reflect and find inner peace.

With a final sigh of resignation, Joy looked Sadness in the eyes and promised, _"Okay. If that's what you really want to do then I give you permission to take my place in Dream Duty tonight."_

Sadness gave a tiny smile of gratitude and placed her little hand on Joy's, giving it a gentle squeeze as she whispered appreciatively, " _Thank you Joy…"_

As the Train of Thought turned back towards Headquarters to drop off the two Emotions at the end of the day, Sadness had asked Joy to do her one more favor…

" _I don't really feel like facing the others yet."_ Sadness confessed as she shifted in her seat uncomfortably and turned her gaze to the floor.

" _Could you please let me know when the other Emotions have gone to bed tonight before telling me to come out for Dream Duty? I'll be waiting in my room until then…"_

Joy gave her a reassuring smile and nodded gently. " _Of course! If you don't feel like seeing any of them, then I promise to stay up and give you the all clear before turning in for the night."_

XXX

Later that night, Joy made good on her promise and waited patiently as Disgust, Anger and Fear retired to their rooms one by one, before going to Sadness' room and knocking softly on her door.

"Okay! It's all clear sweetie! You can come out now!" Joy called quietly through the door. She heard the sound of shuffling feet within the room and then the door swung open carefully as Sadness appeared, looking up at her with a timid expression.

"Thanks Joy. You can go to bed now if you want to." Sadness offered kindly as she stepped out into the hall and started making her way to the console.

Joy reached out a hand and gently grabbed her shoulder as she whispered softly, "Hey, do you want me to stay with you for a while?"

Sadness turned around and gave her a thankful smile but shook her head adamantly.

"No. You've already done so much for me today Joy. You are a real friend and I really appreciate your kindness!" She replied warmly.

"I'll take it from here…you go and have a good rest."

Joy felt her heart glow with appreciation before giving her blue companion a friendly smile. Suddenly a mischievous glint appeared in her blue eyes and leaning forward, she cupped her hand over her mouth and whispered caustically to Sadness, "Just between you and me, I hope the others feel really bad about the things they said and that the guilt keeps them awake all night!"

Sadness gave a soft chuckle and nodded her assent. "Thanks again Joy."

Joy gave her a friendly pat on the back and replied, "That's okay! Anytime Sadness! And remember that I'll be right here if you need me! Goodnight sweetie!"

"Goodnight Joy!"

With that Joy went to her room and Sadness headed down to the main room, a sense of peace in her heart as she thought about spending some quiet time on her own watching the stars…

XXX

Once she reached the console, Sadness made herself comfortable on the sofa and stared dreamily at the monitor. Sometimes when Riley was in a really deep sleep, she didn't get dreams and instead the crew at Dream Productions would broadcast images of the night sky into Headquarters.

Tonight was one of those special nights and as Sadness gazed serenely at the screen, she was shown a beautiful scene of a full moon appearing from behind some clouds and casting its magical glow on a quiet lake. Usually these breath-taking images of the moon and stars were created using some special camera effects down in the Dream production Studios and they were so life-like, that anyone watching would have believed they were looking at the real thing.

This particular scene of a full moon rising over a lake reminded Sadness of a quiet night in the woods back in Minnesota. As she watched, spellbound, the light from the moon pushed away the clouds and at first, a few stars appeared and twinkled like fireflies in the sky. Then gradually more and more stars became visible until finally, the sky was filled with hundreds of pin-pricks of light and their reflections seemed to dance off the surface of the lake like diamonds.

Sadness let out a contented sigh as she allowed herself to become lost in the virtual fantasy unfolding on the screen. These were the moments she cherished the most when she was off duty, and lately stargazing had become her favorite activity. This was the only time in her life when she truly felt at peace and her normally melancholic mood was replaced with something resembling true happiness…

 _Maybe if I'm lucky, I might even see a shooting star_ …Sadness mused to herself willfully.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and tried to imagine herself in that fairytale scene being shown on the screen:

 _She saw herself standing in that forest, gazing up at the moon as its light danced off the lake and invited her to step onto the water. She hesitated at first because it was not winter and the water of the lake was not frozen. But she felt herself drawn forward by the pull of the moonlight and the winking of the stars as if they were living beings and they wanted her to join them…_

 _So pushing her doubts aside, Sadness put one foot on the water cautiously and to her amazement, she did not sink! Before she knew it, she was walking out over the lake and although the water was not solid, she seemed to glide over the surface without so much as causing a ripple! It's as if the light from the moon had formed an invisible layer between her feet and the water and she could walk on air…_

 _Feeling a serene smile spreading across her face, Sadness gazed up at that magical sky and started dancing on the surface of the lake. In that moment she was no longer the short, chubby, clumsy and miserable little Emotion everyone knew her as…although she looked the same on the outside, in her heart she felt at one with the moon and stars. They made her feel graceful, elegant and above all, beautiful and as she danced in their inviting light on that lake, she felt all her troubles and sorrows melt away and be replaced by a feeling of absolute freedom…_

Suddenly the sound of a soft cough coming from her right, snapped Sadness out of her fantasy. Opening her eyes, she found that she was in fact still sitting on the sofa in Headquarters and as her thoughts cleared and her usual melancholy mood retuned, she knew that she was back in her miserable reality.

 _Oh why can't I stay in that beautiful dream world forever…?_ Sadness thought to herself dismally. There was another cough from beside her, and turning dejectedly, Sadness found Fear staring at her with a confused expression on his face.

The purple Emotion gave her an apologetic smile as he rubbed his dry throat and rasped, "Sorry Sadness…I didn't mean to startle you! It's just that I don't have any water in my room and I'm really thirsty…"

Without making eye-contact, Sadness replied, "That's okay Fear. I was just daydreaming…"

Fear nodded and started to say something, but winced painfully as his parched throat demanded water.

"I'll be right back…" He croaked dryly. "I just need a drink of water really bad first!"

With that, Fear hurried into the kitchen before Sadness could protest that she would rather be alone. She gave a defeated sigh as she listened to the sound of water running from the tap in the kitchen sink as Fear filled a glass and proceeded to quench his thirst.

Sadness could hear loud gulping as Fear guzzled the water greedily, followed by the sound of the tap running once more. Again there was more gulping and the tap was turned on a third time. This process was repeated three more times and Sadness couldn't help wondering how someone as skinny as Fear could possibly store that much water inside his stomach.

Finally after downing six glasses of water, Fear emerged from the kitchen and made his way back to Sadness.

"That's better…" Fear stated as he stifled a burp and looked at her sheepishly.

"Is it alright if I sit with you for a while? It's such a lovely night…" he asked timidly, his voice now sounding back to normal.

"If you wish…"Sadness replied half-heartedly.

Fear tried to ease himself onto the sofa beside her, but his stomach was much too full for him to sit comfortably and after a couple of awkward attempts he gave up.

"You know what, I think I'd rather stand actually…" He commented resignedly, patting his tummy to settle the water sloshing around inside.

Sadness stared distractedly at the floor and fiddled with the hem of her sweater absently as fear gave her a friendly smile.

"Look Sadness…about what happened earlier…" Fear stammered guiltily.

"I just really wanted to…"

Suddenly they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat loudly, and turning simultaneously, they saw Anger walk into the room. He was limping rather badly on his left leg as he glanced up at them and grunting sourly, he made a beeline for the other two Emotions.

"Well, well…am I interrupting something?" (Anger nods to Fear) "Beanpole?" (Then he looks at Sadness) "Kid?"

The red Emotion winced as he momentarily forgot about his injured left foot and carelessly shifted his weight onto that leg.

Sadness noticed his discomfort immediately and despite feeling slightly annoyed that first Fear and now Anger had ruined her special alone time, her kind and caring nature took over as she gave Anger a worried look.

"Oh Anger! What happened to your leg?" She asked with friendly concern.

Anger grunted humorlessly and rolled his eyes as he huffed, "Huh! If I could, I would kick myself in the butt! Why did I ever listen to what that Big-Mouth Know-It-All Disgust said?!"

Sadness perked up slightly at the mention of this. Did Disgust take out her frustration on the others too and not just her? But just as quickly as she thought it, Sadness pushed those thoughts out of her mind and a sense of guilt settled over her.

She shouldn't be feeling relieved that she wasn't the only one who Disgust had hurt with her comments. If she thought like that, then she wasn't any better than her green colleague…

Giving a small despondent sigh, Sadness looked at Anger sympathetically. "I know how you feel…what did she say to you Anger?"

Anger glared crossly at the other two Emotions, but as he spoke it became obvious that his irritation was not directed at them…

"Well she said that I should work out more to turn my flabby bits into muscle!" he spat with contempt.

Fear stifled a giggle and Anger shot him a dangerous look as he clenched and unclenched his fists menacingly.

Sadness just nodded in quiet compassion.

"How did you end up hurting yourself then?" She urged gently as Anger's expression went from one of fuming rage to embarrassment and he averted his gaze to the floor.

"It turns out I'm not quite ready for that level of strenuous lifting yet…" he mumbled sheepishly.

Despite feeling rather foolish for sharing this bit of info with Sadness and the Beanpole, Anger couldn't hide a twinge of humor from creeping into his voice as he added, "I mean come on! Up till now, the heaviest thing I ever had to lift was a newspaper!"

"Anyway…" Anger continued in a more level tone, "I decided to lift some weights and everything was going just fine until I accidentally dropped one on my left foot…now my big toe looks like a big, red, angry Mr. Potato Head and it hurts worse than six or seven root canals!"

"In fact it hurts so much that I can't sleep from the throbbing pain! So I was on my way here to get an ice pack…" he trailed off and shrugged dismissively.

Sadness was silent for a moment as she tried to think about what to say to make Anger feel better. She felt bad for Anger and she wanted to cheer him up somehow…but she didn't know what to do! She wished that Joy was here right now! She would probably know what to say or do in this situation…

Suddenly she recalled a little incident that happened this morning and although it was far from humorous, Sadness thought it might at least take Anger's mind off his own pain for a while.

Without looking up, the blue Emotion informed quietly, "My toe hurts a little bit too because I dropped my coffee mug on it this morning…"

Anger stared at her thoughtfully as memories of this morning's events came flooding back like an unpleasant image in his mind. He recalled how Sadness had overheard him and Fear talking to Disgust in the kitchen and how they all made careless comments that upset the blue Emotion and caused her to try and run away.

The red Emotion looked into her sad eyes with concern and putting on his gentlest voice, he ventured, "About this morning Kid…what was that all about? You took off like a typhoon!"

Sadness gave a shuddering sob as she looked back at him with her eyes full of hurt.

"Please Anger! Don't insult me even more…!" she wailed miserably as tears began streaming down her face.

"Didn't the three of you do enough already?! I heard all those nasty things you said about me!"

Anger blinked several times in stunned disbelief at her accusations. "Me? What did _I_ say Kid?!"

Sadness was in the grips of a full-blown crying fit by now as she wailed in-between sobs, "You said that I'm plump! Why didn't you just call me fat?! That's what you really meant wasn't it?!"

She turned accusingly to Fear, who was looking at the floor uncomfortably, and bawled, "You said that I made your honey salty! And…and Disgust…"

Sadness started to hiccup as her misery reached a whole new level, and though torrents of tears she blubbered, "…Disgust said that I make her sick!"

Fear looked up at her with his soulful gray eyes as he offered reassuringly, "Oh no Sadness…you've got it all wrong! You must not have heard _everything_!"

The purple Emotion stepped forward and placed his hand on Sadness' knee gently as he explained, "Disgust told us that she tried to apologize to you and that made me and Anger feel really bad for not supporting you more. Then Anger said that he likes his girls to be soft and cuddly…"

He shot a sly glance at Anger before remarking, "Personally I thought that was rather sweet of him!"

Anger glared warningly at Fear and mumbled ignorantly, "Did I?! I don't really remember that…"

He looked at his feet and seemed to turn two shades redder as Fear pressed defiantly, "Oh yes you did! Or is all that _'working-out'_ affecting your memory?"

Anger fidgeted with his hands uncomfortably and still avoiding eye-contact, he muttered, "Well I suppose I _may_ have mentioned it…"

Then a teasing glint appeared in his amber-colored eyes as he glared at Fear and taunted, "By the way Fear, you're as flimsy as a stick! I bet if a light breeze were to blow through Headquarters right now, you'd end up getting knocked flat on your butt!"

Fear narrowed his eyes testily at his red coworker but decided he'd better keep his thoughts to himself, otherwise things might escalate to physical conflict between the two male Emotions. And Fear decided that he really didn't want to be used as a punching bag tonight...

Anger on the other hand was feeling rather proud of his witty little insult at his purple coworker. Turning confidently to Sadness he stated, "By the way, Mr. Slim and Terrific here said that he adores the taste of salted caramel and that apparently, salted honey tastes even better!"

Sadness refused to acknowledge either of their statements and mumbled under her breath without conviction, "Oh sure…you're both just having me on!"

Anger shook his head adamantly and, taking Sadness' hand in his, he gave it a reassuring squeeze as he gazed into her eyes with desperation.

"No we're not Kiddo!"

He gave Fear a rough slap on the back (much to Fear's disapproval!) as he declared, "I don't think you could exactly call me and Beanpole BFFs…and sometimes it even seems like Headquarters is not big enough for the both of us! So why do you think that he would say something nice and meaningful about me right now and that I would return the favor?!"

Fear grumbled something under his breath and gingerly removed Anger's hand from his shoulder.

Then he looked at Sadness with sincerity and insisted, "As much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with Anger on this occasion. Even though we don't see eye-to-eye, we all feel bad..."

"Including Disgust!" He added quickly, "For overacting and saying those hurtful things! I guess the stress from this move had gotten the better of us…"

With great difficulty due to the volume of water still sitting in his stomach, Fear got down on his knees and fixed Sadness with his most heart-felt look.

"Sadness, can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

He gave her a pleading smile and added with honesty, "And I really _do_ love salted honey!"

Sadness seemed to consider his apology carefully before answering with a resigned sigh, "Well I guess so…I know you're too nice to lie."

Fear got to his feet with a grunt of effort and assured kindly, "Not to you Sadness…"

He smiled warmly and said, "Hold on, be strong!"

"Thanks Fear…" the blue Emotion replied meekly as Fear suddenly went rigid and started shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he did the "I really need to use the bathroom!" dance. Apparently, the water had finally made some progress through his system and as a result, Fear found himself facing a new problem…

The purple Emotion grinned sheepishly and uttered in a strained voice, "Great! I have something I need to take care of urgently so I'll leave you now…"

With that, Fear made a dash for the restroom as fast as he could manage under the circumstances. But despite his urgency he called over his shoulder, "Goodnight Sadness…you too Anger…"

Anger snickered as he watched the purple Emotion disappear around the corner. "What a smooth operator!"

Then he turned his attention back to Sadness and offered, "I'm sorry that I can't throw myself down on my knees as my foot hurts too much…but seriously Kiddo you are the last Emotion I would ever dream of harming."

Sadness looked at him critically for a long time and Anger was beginning to think that she wouldn't accept his apology after all.

Then slowly, she gave a faint smile and whispered timidly, "Okay Anger. I know that you are an Emotion of few words and what you just told me must have been hard for you."

She touched his hand lightly. "I accept your apology."

Anger gave her a relieved smile. "Thanks Kid."

"Mind if I sit with you awhile?" He asked softly.

Sadness shrugged timidly and sighed. "I guess…if you really want to…"

Before she could change her mind, Anger hopped up onto the sofa beside her. Unfortunately, he ended up bumping his injured foot against the side of the couch in the process and a fresh wave of pain surged up his leg.

Anger cursed through gritted teeth as he fought back tears of agony, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps as Sadness looked at him with unmistakable concern.

"Oh Anger…do you want me to get an ice pack for you?" She offered kindly as Anger screwed his eyes shut and waited for the pain to subside.

The little blue Emotion felt a sense of grief wash over her upon seeing her friend's suffering, and already she could feel a few tears of sympathy forming in her eyes.

Anger shot her a slightly irritated look and Sadness flinched reflexively from the harshness of his stare.

She quickly looked down at the floor in shame. "I'm sorry Anger…I know it's none of my business…she sniffled apologetically.

"I don't like seeing you in pain that's all…" she wept as the tears began streaming down her face.

Anger felt a pang of guilt stab at his heart as he realized that he had offended her again. She was just trying to help him and he rejected her kindness because of his pride! It's not often that someone shows sympathy for his feelings and physical distress, and deep down he was grateful that she appeared to care about him.

He didn't mean to shut her out like that…he just didn't want to appear as a wimp in front of her that's all!

Anger softened his expression and leaned in close to her. The tears were flowing freely now and she made no attempts to stop them.

"Oh sweet Sadness…" he crooned as he reached out a hand and gently started to wipe the tears that were rolling down her face with his thumb.

She looked into his eyes searchingly as he stroked her cheek with tenderness.

"Don't cry for me." He offered with a soothing smile.

Then with a hint of friendly humor he stated, "I've been such a donkey's ass lately! I don't deserve your tears!"

Despite her sorrow, Sadness felt a tiny smile tug at the corner of her mouth and her eyes twinkled with slight amusement.

"That's alright. Everyone deserves a few tears sometimes…" she replied gently. "They are cleansing."

Anger nodded slowly and before Sadness could agree or disagree, he took hold of her hand and stroked her fingers fondly.

Sadness gave a little gasp of surprise and instinctively pulled her hand away. Anger looked at her with a baffled expression, but instantly his gaze turned reassuring as he tried to put her mind at ease.

"Oh please don't do that Kiddo!" He pleaded whilst giving her his most innocent wounded puppy impression.

"You are really going to force me to go down on my knees…"

Sadness blushed and with her voice trembling from guilt she uttered, "I'm sorry…"

Anger smiled back reassuringly and offered to take her hand in his again. Much to his relief, she let him this time and the two Emotions exchanged a look of understanding as they sat and watched the stars on the monitor in silence for a while.

"You know what Anger?" Sadness ventured softly after a few minutes.

"Sometimes I wish I was one of those twinkling bright stars up there…"

Anger was quiet as he seemed to contemplate her statement, then after a moment's reflection he responded jokingly, "Well if you were one of them, then I wish that I could be a satellite orbiting around you! Maybe I would be armed with a laser or something so if anyone tried to harm you, I would blast them into space dust!"

Sadness looked at him with astonishment. "Anger! That sounds silly!"

Then a tiny smile crept across her face as she gave him a playful shove with her shoulder. "Besides I can't picture you as a satellite at all…you remind me more of a little walking volcano!"

The red Emotion crossed his arms with mock insult as he replied teasingly, "A volcano you say? Well that's even better! I could follow you around and incinerate anyone or everything that threatens to harm you!"

Sadness gave a tiny giggle at his silly antics and Anger couldn't help feeling a sense of achievement fill his heart. He pretended to slap his forehead in disbelief as he uttered in mock astonishment, "It's a miracle! I thought I just saw an actual smile appear on that pretty face!"

Before she could stop herself, Sadness let out a small laugh. Almost instantly she cupped her hands over her mouth as if she couldn't believe that sound had actually come from her, and blushing she turned her eyes back to the floor.

Anger gazed at her with a whole new level of fondness and chuckled warmly to himself. Then he placed his hand on top of hers and gently laced his fingers through hers as they continued watching the stars together…

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **And there we have the rest of what was initially supposed to be chapter 2! Can you see why I decided that I needed to split it into two separate chapters?**

 **Anyway, we are far from done with this prequel yet…the TearBrick is only getting started and I can assure you there will be many more chapters to come! And things are only going to get sweeter and funnier from here on now that Anger is feeling extra protective of our little blue friend…**

 **As some of you may know, I am also working on two other stories at the same time as this TearBrick and if you have picked up on the pattern, then you know that I need to write a chapter for each of the other two before I get back to this story…but don't worry! I already have ideas planned out for both of those chapters and now I just need to put them all together! (I also have the next chapter of this story mapped out as well, but I promised that I would alternate between writing chapters for all three stories I am currently working on so I have to stick to the pattern!)**

 **I would like to thank everyone who has continued to read this story so far and especially thank you to Orangebird124, HollyAnne1084, Tripledent and Justin Bonesteel once again for your reviews :)**

 **You guys are like my 4 musketeers and I really appreciate your ongoing support and kindness :)**

 **I hope you all stick around to find out what happens next and until we meet again for the next chapter, this is Svinorita over and out!**


	4. Calm After The Storm

Chapter 4.

Early the next morning as Fear and Disgust walked into the main room, they both received the shock of their lives! As the two Emotions made their ways over to the console, they stumbled upon a scene so amazing that their eyes nearly popped out of their heads at the sight that greeted them…

There on the sofa, was possibly the sweetest and strangest picture that Fear and Disgust had ever witnessed in their lives!

Sadness was sitting with her back propped up against the couch, her head drooping towards her chest so that her glasses had slid down her nose, her eyes half-closed as the strain of doing Dream Duty for two nights in a row finally caught up with her.

The blue Emotion raised her head sleepily as she registered the sound of approaching footsteps, and she turned to gaze with tired eyes at Fear and Disgust as the other two Emotions stared back in awestruck wonder.

But it quickly became apparent that Sadness wasn't the focal point of their fascinations…

Lying there, with his head resting on a small cushion on Sadness' lap, was Anger! His left foot had been carefully bandaged last night and it was propped up on another cushion as he slept peacefully beside the little blue emotion. He was snoring softly, a tiny line of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth and a serene smile on his lips as Sadness gently stroked his bald head with her tiny hand.

As Fear looked on in stunned bewilderment, Disgust seemed to regain her senses a little. With wide eyes, the green Emotion opened her mouth to offer a witty remark about the scene in front of her. But before she could utter a word she was silenced by Sadness, who shot her a warning look and raised a finger to her lips.

"Shhh…." The blue Emotion gestured quietly.

The tension hung thick in the air, the atmosphere reminiscent of a Mexican Standoff from an old Western as the three Emotions eyed each other awkwardly for several seconds.

Then all of a sudden, Anger stretched contentedly in his sleep and gave a hearty yawn, oblivious to the fact that he was the currently the center of attention in the room. Without realizing that he had attracted an audience, Anger opened his eyes slowly and turned his head so that his gaze met that of Sadness as she looked down at him with kindness in her deep blue eyes.

The red Emotion grinned and muttered dreamily, "Wow…I must have died and gone to heaven! I am staring into the face of an angel…"

Disgust was unable to keep quiet any longer and placing her hands on her hips, she blurted sarcastically, "Oh please!"

She turned to her purple colleague standing beside her and scoffed, "Fear quickly! Bring me a bucket! I think I'm going to be sick!"

Disgust's snide comment jolted Anger out of his dreamy fantasy and he tried to sit up abruptly, his face burning from embarrassment. Unfortunately in his urgency to save his dignity, Anger totally forgot about his injured foot…that is until he carelessly slammed it against the side of the couch as he was getting up!

"HOLY MACARONI!" The red Emotion shouted, screwing his eyes shut as tears of pain threatened to stream down his face.

"That hurt worse than trying to pass a kidney stone!"

Sadness responded to his distress immediately, gently lifting Anger's sore foot as she slid a cushion under it empathetically.

"Oh be careful Anger!' She crooned softly as he relaxed slightly under her tenderness.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself again Sweet Pea…"

Fear gasped in surprise and Disgust stifled a snort at this unexpected show of affection. But before either of them could voice their thoughts, they were interrupted by a cheerful "Good morning everyone! Did I oversleep or what?!" as Joy made her enthusiastic entrance.

The yellow Emotion skipped up to the group with a radiant smile spread across her face. Her enthusiasm wavered slightly as she took in Fear and Disgust's confused expressions as they stared in bewilderment at the two Emotions seated on the couch.

Joy followed their gazes and raised an eyebrow questioningly at Anger, who shot her an irritated scowl while Sadness fussed over his sore foot like an overprotective mother tending to her injured child.

Joy clapped her hands together in glee, her whole body trembling from excitement as she studied the sweet scene before her.

"Well it's wonderful to see that everyone is getting along once again!" She exclaimed in elation.

Her expression faltered slightly as she looked hopefully at Sadness and ventured, "We _are_ all on speaking terms again aren't we?"

Sadness gave her yellow coworker a shy smile. "Sure we are Joy…Everything is good."

Joy whooped in delight and fist-pumped the air. "That's what I'm talking about! Hooray for friendship and teamwork!"

Then the yellow Emotion turned to address the others in her usual upbeat manner as she explained, "I'm so sorry that I overslept…but I was thinking a lot last night and I couldn't get to sleep for _ages_ because I was so excited about my wonderful idea! Wait till you hear my plan!"

Her blue eyes twinkled playfully as she made a show of beating an imaginary drum. "Drum roll…"

The other Emotions looked at their leader quizzically as she threw her arms into the air and exclaimed, "TA-DA!"

Joy pointed to Sadness and announced jubilantly, "I believe that Sadness here deserves some serious cheering up! She's been having a really rough couple of days lately and to make it up to her, I was thinking about taking her to one of the Islands of Personality for a fun girls' day out!"

Sadness blushed shyly and looked down at the floor as all eyes were turned to her.

"Well I don't know…" she mumbled timidly.

Joy stepped up to her blue companion and threw an arm around her shoulder reassuringly. "Oh come on Sadness! I promise we'll have a great time! As your friend, I'm asking you to let me do this for you!"

Before the blue Emotion could protest, Joy turned her attention to the others and beamed ecstatically, "Of course I have my own ideas about which Island we should go to, but I want to give everyone else a chance to share your suggestions!"

The yellow Emotion studied the faces of her coworkers excitedly. "Who wants to offer their idea first?"

After a moment of silent reflection, Disgust stepped forward confidently and, fixing Sadness with an encouraging smile, she offered, "I know just the thing! How's about I take Sadness down to Fashion Island? We could have a wonderful girls' day out together and do some shopping on the side!"

The green Emotion averted her eyes to the floor guiltily. "I know I've been particularly harsh on Sadness lately and I really want to make it up to her somehow…"

Joy listened thoughtfully and nodded in understanding. "I see…maybe that isn't such a bad idea."

She turned to Sadness and gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze. "Well what do you think Sadness? Would you like to go to Fashion Island with Disgust?"

The blue Emotion shifted her weight uncomfortably and avoided eye-contact with Disgust as she mumbled, "Well…I don't know…shopping isn't really my thing…"

Disgust felt a wave of irritation bubbling inside her at the thought of being rejected by her blue coworker.

 _Why the nerve with that miserable little Emotion! Can't she appreciate that I'm trying to do something nice for her!_

But as soon as she thought it, Disgust felt remorse gripping her heart and she looked away from her blue colleague in shame.

 _There I go again! My impatient attitude towards Sadness is what caused this whole mess in the first place! I need to try and reconcile with her, not lose my cool with her all over again…_

Taking a deep breath, Disgust looked up at the blue Emotion and forced a friendly smile.

"But I know we could have a great time on Fashion Island together! They have some beautiful clothes and accessories down there and if you see anything you like, I would even buy it for you!" She offered sweetly.

Disgust's eyes suddenly got a distant and dreamy look.

"I remember seeing this gorgeous scarf the last time I went to Fashion Island and I wouldn't mind getting it for myself before someone else buys it…" She muttered more to herself than to the others.

She glanced back hopefully at Sadness. "I also saw these stylish spectacles that would look great on you Sadness! I think they could really open up your face and bring out your inner beauty!"

From behind Sadness, Joy waved her hand frantically at her green coworker and mouthed the words, "No! Stop!"

Disgust realized her mistake and shrugged apologetically, giving Sadness her most innocent smile. Sadness didn't say anything, but considering her slouching posture and downcast eyes, it was obvious that she found Disgust's remark hurtful.

Joy quickly jumped in front of the little blue Emotion, and placing her hands on her friend's shoulders, she exclaimed, "Oh I know! How about we go down to Boyband Island and check out the latest tunes?"

Disgust rolled her eyes, commenting flatly, "Really Joy? Boyband Island is so lame! I haven't set foot in that place since One Direction broke up and turned into _Five Directions!_ If you ask me, I think it might be pretty boring over there right now…"

The green Emotion turned to face Anger, who had been fuming silently about being caught in such an awkward situation by the others, and gave him a sly smirk.

"Maybe Prince Charming over here has some ideas about how to cheer Sadness up." Disgust chuckled.

Anger glared daggers at his green coworker. But his eyes quickly lost their harsh look as he considered some interesting possibilities.

Finally he looked over at Sadness and offered gently, "Actually I wouldn't mind taking you to Hockey Island, Kid. We could skate around and dance on the ice for a bit…"

Anger suddenly remembered his injured foot and growled under his breath in frustration. "But as you can see, my foot has other ideas!"

The red Emotion turned away and mumbled grudgingly to himself, "Thanks to me being stupid enough to listen to the advice of some _Pretty Air-Head_ …"

Then he turned back to Sadness, a sincere smile on his face as he looked into her eyes fondly and promised, "But as soon as my foot is all better, I will take you out on a date that you will never forget!"

Anger placed his hand tenderly on Sadness' and squeezed it affectionately. "No one deserves to be happier than you Kiddo!"

Sadness blushed and looked away shyly.

Joy smiled warmly at the pair before turning to look at Fear, who had remained a silent spectator throughout the whole conversation.

"What about you Fear? Do you have any suggestions?" Joy asked encouragingly.

Fear seemed to run through a mental list of all the Islands of Personality, a frown of concentration on his face as he weighed up all the potential dangers associated with each one. Finally a small smile of satisfaction appeared on his lips as he decided on the safest option.

"Well since it's been so hectic around here lately, how about a nice relaxing day on Family Island? You could take a leisurely stroll through the park, maybe sit on a bench under the willow trees and reflect about how peaceful everything is out there…"

Disgust, Anger and Joy all rolled their eyes collectively.

"Seriously, Fear? Couldn't you pick anything lamer?" Disgust commented, waving her hand dismissively.

"BORING!" Anger sniped exaggeratedly.

Even Joy shrugged apologetically. "Uh thanks for your input Fear…but I was thinking of something a little more exciting than that…"

Fear folded his arms over his chest and pouted, "If you don't like my ideas, then don't ask for my opinion next time! I was going for the safest choice but if you'd rather risk your lives doing something a little more _"exciting"_ then that's fine by me!"

Joy gave her purple coworker a resigned sigh. Then suddenly her face lit up and she turned to look at Sadness, the golden aura surrounding her glowing so brightly from her exuberance, that it was almost too painful to look at.

"Oh I got it! I got it!" Joy exclaimed as she went into a hyper fit of excitement, jumping up and down and performing a cartwheel out of sheer happiness in front of her stunned audience.

After about a minute, the yellow Emotion finally managed to rein in her enthusiasm (much to the relief of Disgust, who had been watching her coworker's antics with barely disguised petulance.)

Joy bounded up to Sadness and ran a few circles around her, the blue Emotion struggling to track her friend's movement with her weary eyes.

"How about I take Sadness to Goofball Island! What a treat that would be!" The yellow Emotion announced as she stopped in front of her tired coworker and tickled her under the chin affectionately.

"Would you like that?" Joy asked in a voice that sounded like a person talking to a puppy.

Despite her tiredness, Sadness couldn't help giggling as Joy tickled her chin. Finally she managed to crack half a smile.

Apparently that was all the confirmation that Joy needed and she let out a little squeal of delight as she turned to face the others.

"I think that's a yes ladies and gentlemen! Right that's settled then!"

She placed a hand on her chest for emphasis as she declared, "Tomorrow I, Jolly Joy will take Sadness Blue to Goofball Island…and boy have I got some fun in store for us! Why I'll even bring along my accordion so we can sing along the way!"

She reached down and patted Sadness gently on the shoulder. Then she gave Anger a smile of satisfaction.

"You and Anger must be feeling exhausted after taking Dream Duty last night…why don't the two of you take the rest of the day off and catch up on some much needed rest? Disgust, Fear and myself can take care of Riley today!"

Anger grunted in approval. "Yeah I could use a little nap. Thanks for the offer Joy."

With that, the red Emotion eased himself off the couch, (carefully so he wouldn't bump his sore foot on the blasted thing for the umpteenth time!) and shot a departing smile at Sadness.

"See you later Kid. And I hope you enjoy yourself at Goofball tomorrow…you've earned it!"

Then he turned and limped off towards his room. Sadness started fixing up the cushions and putting them back in their usual places as Joy and Fear headed off to the kitchen to make themselves some morning tea.

Suddenly, the blue Emotion was interrupted by a gentle tap on her shoulder, and turning slowly she saw Disgust standing beside her, a disappointed expression on her face.

"Hey Sadness…I just wanted to tell you that I hope you have a great time with Joy on Goofball Island tomorrow…"

The green Emotion cast her eyes to the floor and mumbled dejectedly, "But I really wish you would have agreed to come with me to Fashion Island instead! I can't stop thinking about that beautiful scarf I saw. The thing is that there was only one like it, and I'm worried that it will be sold by the time I get to go there next…"

Disgust shrugged unhappily. "But anyway…tomorrow is your day, and I guess I just wanted to say that I hope you try and have some fun out there…"

Sadness was silent as she listened to Disgust's words. Her heart felt heavy with guilt as she realized that Disgust was making a genuine effort to be friendly and that her refusal to go to Fashion Island with her had really upset her.

Just then, the blue Emotion had a nice idea that she believed would lift Disgust's spirits and make herself feel less guilty about rejecting her offer at the same time…

Sadness stepped forward and took hold of Disgust's hand gently, a shy smile on her face as she gazed into her emerald-green eyes kindly.

"Can you come with me to my room for a minute Disgust? I have something I want to show you."

Disgust was slightly taken aback by this request, but she nodded slowly in agreement, her curiosity piqued.

It wasn't very often that Sadness invited _anyone_ to her room…and after the way she had treated her blue coworker recently, Disgust couldn't understand why she would invite _her_ of all Emotions to enter her private quarters!

Without further discussion, the two Emotions made their way up the ramp and into Sadness' room together.

XXX

Once they were there, Sadness pulled open a drawer on her bedside dresser and carefully took out a very beautiful lilac scarf with an intricate gold and blue pattern woven into it.

She showed it to Disgust timidly and asked, "Is this the scarf you've been talking about Disgust?"

Disgust's mouth hung open in disbelief as she stared at the scarf in Sadness' hands, her eyes appearing as big as dinner plates!

"Oh Sadness…yes it is! Isn't it gorgeous?!"

Suddenly the green Emotion's face dropped and she furrowed her brow in confusion as she regarded her blue coworker.

"Hold on a second…how come you've got it?! Did you actually buy it yourself?!"

She gave a disappointed sigh and mumbled, "Oh that means I'm too late! They wouldn't have another one…"

Sadness looked slightly hurt by her friend's comment, and she gazed at the scarf in her hands reflectively.

"I may not be fashionable like you…but that doesn't mean that I don't like to look at nice things." Sadness explained after a moment, running her fingers across the smooth silky material as she spoke.

"Sometimes when I look at beautiful things, it reminds me that even if the world seems full of misery and hardship, there is beauty in it too."

Sadness stepped towards her green companion and stretched out her hands, offering her the scarf as she whispered sadly, "I can see that this scarf means a lot to you and it would make you a million times happier than it could ever make me…"

She looked into Disgust's startled eyes and smiled kindly. "So I want you to have it."

Disgust took a step back from shock and shook her head in disbelief.

"N-no!" she stuttered. "Absolutely not! I can't accept that from you Sadness!"

She felt a lump of guilt form in her throat and she swallowed back a sob. "Not after I've been so mean to you all this time…"

Sadness gave her a reassuring smile and held out the scarf adamantly.

"It's okay. I really want you to have it…it would make my happy if you accept it…sort of." She insisted.

Sadness sighed miserably and added, "Sometimes you tend to say things without thinking first. It's like your mouth is faster than your brain…but that's okay. I forgive you Disgust."

She looked up at her, her soulful blue eyes brimming with tears as she concluded, "I can never be beautiful like you…but in the end, we all have our roles to play for Riley."

Disgust felt her own eyes tearing up as she took the scarf hesitantly from Sadness' hand. Her heart was fluttering as she looked appreciatively at the gift and back to Sadness.

"Oh Sadness…no one has ever done anything so beautiful and kind for me before! You really are the sweetest Emotion I have ever met and I don't deserve your kindness!"

With that, Disgust leaned down and gave the little Emotion a thankful hug. "You are so generous and wonderful…and you know what? Sometimes I actually envy _you_!"

As Sadness returned the friendly embrace, she whispered uncertainly, "What do you mean? Why would you envy anything about me?"

Disgust drew away gently, tears rolling down her cheek as she brushed a strand of blue hair carefully out of Sadness' face.

"Because I wish I could be as beautiful on the inside as you are!"

Sadness smiled meekly, her heart glowing with gratitude at the compliment. "That's okay Disgust. Accept the scarf and everything is good between us again."

Disgust sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as she uttered, "Thank you so much Sadness! I can't tell you how sorry I am for the way I treated you and I promise it won't happen again!"

She studied the scarf in her hands and chuckled half-heartedly. "The next time my brain races ahead of my mouth, I will look at this scarf and remember your words! From now on, I am going to try to be more careful and considerate about how my words affect others."

The green Emotion placed her hand on Sadness' shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze as she whispered, "And I promise I will take you to Boyband Island one day! After all, there are so many talented musical acts out there…I'm sure something hot will pop up soon enough!"

Sadness smiled back appreciatively. "Okay. I'd like that."

Disgust slowly got to her feet and turned to leave the room. "You should get some rest now Sadness. You've been working so hard lately and you need to be well rested for tomorrow."

"Thanks Disgust."

As Disgust walked out of the room, closing the door behind her softly, she wrapped the scarf proudly around her neck. Her heart felt light and her conscience was clear…in fact Disgust couldn't remember the last time she felt this good!

 _I really hope Sadness and Joy have the time of their lives on Goofball Island!_ She thought to herself contentedly.

* * *

 **AUTOR'S NOTE:**

 **It looks like things are finally on the mend inside headquarters…**

 **I just want to point out that I really appreciate all your reviews and I carefully consider everything you guys write to me. For instance, many of you were asking if Disgust would apologize to Sadness properly one day and I had that in mind when I was working on this chapter. I hope I managed to portray that well in the end and it just goes to show, your feedback really does help shape my stories! :)**

 **Having said that, I want to thank the following people for sharing your feedback on this story so far:**

 **Orangebird124**

 **HollyAnne1084**

 **Tripledent**

 **Justin Bonesteel**

 **Now I am going to switch my attention back to the drama unfolding in "The Curse of the Were-Disgust" as Halloween is coming up fast and I want to have most of that story ready by then :)**

 **Until we meet again in my next update, this is Svinorita over and out!**


	5. Goofball Mayhem Part 1

**Chapter 5 – Goofball Mayhem Part 1.**

Early the next morning…

The sun had barely risen outside Riley's window and the Mind World was still dark when Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust received an impromptu early start to their day. The cause of the rude awakening was Joy, who was tearing around Headquarters in a frenzied state as she searched high and low for her accordion.

Apparently she had misplaced the silly instrument somehow and this had sent her onto the verge of panic! Joy had promised Sadness that they were going to have a field day on Goofball Island together and she intended to bring her accordion along to provide some in-travel entertainment as they set out on their adventure.

Now her favorite musical instrument was missing and Joy wasn't going to stop searching until she located it…even if she had to turn Headquarters upside-down in the process!

As the yellow Emotion systematically searched the rooms of her sleep-deprived co-workers, she was met with a mixed reaction of groans and complaints…

Sadness moaned miserably as Joy flung open her door, burying her head under her pillow while her yellow companion searched her room.

Fear shrieked in fright and drew the covers over his head when Joy burst into his room next, asking him if he knew where her accordion was.

And Anger? Anger threw a barrage of choice curse-words her way and threatened to incinerate her if she didn't leave him alone at once!

Sighing in frustration, Joy entered the main room and decided to focus her search there.

"Where is my darn accordion?" She whined sulkily, her blue eyes scanning the room. Finally, her gaze settled on the console where Disgust was asleep on the couch after taking Dream Duty last night.

Initially it was supposed to be Sadness' turn to do Dream Duty, but since the blue Emotion had already stayed up for two consecutive nights, everyone agreed that she really needed to get some rest.

So Disgust had volunteered to take Sadness' shift for her. After all, she was still feeling indebted to her blue colleague after Sadness had so kindly given her that beautiful scarf that she had set her heart on! And what better way of showing Sadness her gratitude than by offering to take Dream Duty for her?!

Everyone knew that Disgust hated doing Dream Duty, so this was a very symbolic gesture on her part and she hoped that Sadness understood the significance behind it…

However Disgust regretted her offer the moment Joy made her spectacularly noisy entrance this morning!

The yellow Emotion ran over to the console and began loudly rummaging in and around the area, her fruitless searching waking Disgust from her slumber. As a result, Joy narrowly missed being hit in the head with a cushion as her green co-worker expressed her displeasure at the early wake-up call.

"Joy!" Disgust snapped irritably as the yellow Emotion checked underneath the console in case the lost instrument happened to be hiding there.

"This is overacting with a capital _O_! You're only going to Goofball Island for crying out loud! Not Disneyland!" She scoffed, giving her yellow colleague a scowl of distaste.

Joy ignored her remark and dashed into the kitchen where moments later everyone heard an elated "AH! There you are!" as she finally located her beloved accordion in the cabinet under the sink.

With a whoop of delight, Joy skipped back over to Sadness' room, her cheerful mood restored now that she was reunited with her precious accordion. Once there, she knocked on the door enthusiastically. Without waiting for an answer, she flung open the door and bounded into the room.

Sadness still had her head stuffed under her pillow and uttered a muffled moan of despair as Joy skipped up to her bed excitedly.

"Wakey wakey sunshine!" Joy sang merrily as she grabbed hold of the pillow and forcefully removed it, exposing Sadness' face to the bright light that had permeated her room thanks to Joy's radiant aura.

Without her glasses, the blue Emotion's eyes looked comically small and she blinked several times as she tried to adjust to the sudden brightness in front of her.

"Oh…please let me sleep Joy!" She groaned, covering her eyes with her arm as Joy beamed down at her cheerfully.

"Oh no you don't!" The yellow Emotion insisted as she pulled Sadness' arm away from her face. Giggling with excitement, Joy reached over to the bedside dresser and picked up her friend's glasses, shoving them onto Sadness' stunned face before she could protest.

"The sun is already up and fun times are waiting to be had!" She grabbed the blue Emotion by her arm and started pulling her out of bed eagerly. "Come on sleepy head! Up an at 'em!"

With a mournful groan of resignation, Sadness allowed Joy to drag her out of bed and the two of them headed out the door.

Once they were standing in the hall, Joy turned to her blue companion, a huge grin on her face as she announced loudly, "I'll go and wake up Fear now so he can make us some tea before we go!"

From further down the corridor, a door swung open slowly and Fear's purple head appeared in the hall.

"Oh for crying out loud! I'm already awake!" He informed.

His gray eyes flashed with annoyance as he looked over at the two female Emotions standing a few feet away.

"How could I not be? You probably would have woken up the dead with all that noise Joy!"

Fear sighed and walked up to them, his voice taking on a softer note as he offered, "Very well! I'll make you some tea…"

He placed a hand on Joy's shoulder and added desperately, "After that, please go on your way!"

XXX

Joy didn't even give Sadness the chance to finish her breakfast. After gulping down her own tea and toast hurriedly, she grabbed her blue co-worker by the hand and led her towards the Recall Tube enthusiastically.

The other Emotions shot sympathetic looks at Sadness and wished her a good time on Goofball Island as she was dragged along behind Joy, her short stubby legs struggling to keep up with the energetic, bouncy step of her yellow companion.

With her accordion tucked under one arm, Joy flashed Sadness an excited smile and activated the Recall Tube with her foot. Moments later, the two Emotions stepped inside and allowed the suction to whisk them up and out of Headquarters.

After a short stomach-churning journey through the Tube, Joy and Sadness were deposited in the vast expanse that was Long Term Memory. Soon the two Emotions found themselves walking along a narrow path that snaked through the labyrinth of shelves stacked with memory orbs as they set off for their destination: Goofball Island.

By now, the Mind World was lit up with a warm ambient light, an unmistakable sign that Riley was awake and the sun must be shining brightly outside…overall the whole atmosphere this morning seemed to indicate that another perfect day lay in store for both Riley and her Emotions.

As they made their way along the winding path through Long Term, Joy skipped ahead with boundless enthusiasm, leaving a trail of gold sparkles in her wake as she so often did when she felt super excited. Sadness meanwhile, shuffled along a few feet behind her cheerful friend, dragging her feet lazily and staring miserably at the ground in front of her.

As they rounded the first of many corners that lay along their path, Joy stretched out her accordion to its full length and eagerly started singing at the top of her voice, "She wore an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, lime green dress-a-reeny!"

The yellow Emotion laughed cheerfully as she sang, putting her own unique twist on a Brian Hyland classic. Glancing back at her blue companion with a pleased smile on her face, she chirped, "Eh? What do you think Sadness? That's what I'm talking about! Isn't this fun?"

Before Sadness could offer a reply, Joy cut her off by exclaiming, "Oh I know! Listen to this one…"

Sadness sighed despondently as Joy launched into an encore performance, her blue eyes glittering with delight as she sang, "She wore a chunky-bulky, grayish-white sweater-reeny!"

"Oh please Joy!" Sadness rolled her eyes as her friend finished singing.

She couldn't hide the sarcasm in her voice as she commented flatly, "That sounds ridiculous! I'm still half-asleep here…"

Joy shrugged innocently and quipped, "Oh come on my girl! Lighten up! I promised you a day filled with laughter and fun and I intend to deliver on my word!"

Sadness didn't reply as they passed by a group of miserable-looking Mind Workers. The green and purple jellybean-shaped people gave the two Emotions disinterested looks as they went about their daily business, their sullen expressions reflecting Sadness' current mood to a T.

Joy prodded the blue Emotion with her elbow and whispered, "You see those Mind Workers over there? I bet they're jealous that we're having so much fun while they're stuck doing their boring jobs!"

Suddenly Sadness tensed up and raised a finger to her lips, her formally tired eyes darting around frantically.

"Shhh! Joy! I thought I heard some shuffling…I think we're being followed!" she cautioned.

Jot paused and listened intently. A mischievous smile crept across her face as she whispered to her blue companion, "Ooooh! How exciting! Maybe we have a secret admirer!"

Sadness looked up at her with worried eyes. "How do you know that it's somebody good…?"

She looked around anxiously and grabbed her friend by the arm, her gentle voice rising in alarm as she uttered, "What if it's someone bad?! Oh Joy! We should be careful!"

Joy just chuckled lightly in response to her blue co-worker's concern. "Sadness! I'll let you in on a little secret…"

She bent down and placed a reassuring hand on Sadness' shoulder. "I noticed something strange too, but I didn't want to scare you so I kept quiet about it…"

Then in a really loud voice, Joy announced boldly, "YOU SEE MY FRIEND? THIS ACCORDION IS NOT JUST A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT! IN THE RIGHT HANDS, IT CAN BE A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION!"

The yellow Emotion stood up straight and placed her hands on her hips, her voice echoing off the shelves of Long Term Memory as she warned, "ONE WHACK ON THE HEAD WITH THIS BABY AND SOMEONE MIGHT END UP HAVING TO COLLECT THEIR MARBLES OFF THE GROUND!"

With that, Joy took Sadness by the hand and strode on confidently towards their destination. Sadness kept glancing over her shoulder anxiously, expecting to hear those shuffling footsteps following them again.

But apparently, the mystery stalker was scared off by the threat of being pummeled by Joy's accordion as no further sounds troubled them for the remainder of their journey.

XXX

"Here we are Sadness! Oh isn't this just wonderful?!" Joy exclaimed happily as the two friends finally arrived at Goofball Island.

The yellow Emotion spread her arms wide and twirled in a circle as she admired the carnival-themed surroundings of the place.

Laughing with delight, she stopped and fixed Sadness with a maniacal grin. "What should we do first?!" she wondered out-loud, her blue eyes twinkling with happiness.

Sadness gave a half-hearted shrug in response and sighed forlornly. "I don't know…whatever you decide I suppose…"

Suddenly she was interrupted by a loud squeal of excitement coming from Joy as the over-enthusiastic Emotion grabbed her hand and pointed to the entrance booth, where a fat Mind Worker dressed in a pink princess costume was seated behind the counter.

"Oh Sadness look! They must be having some sort of costume and props theme on Goofball today!" Joy observed, her hand trembling with excitement as she led Sadness over to the booth ecstatically.

"What a rare treat! Let's go see what's on offer!" She suggested eagerly.

Sadness groaned gloomily and followed Joy reluctantly as she bounded over to the not-so-cheerful-looking princess stationed inside the entrance booth.

The female Mind Worker stared at the newcomers with a bored expression on her round face, her beady eyes looking from Joy to Sadness and back again blankly. She was wearing a body-hugging pink dress that was obviously several sizes too small for her, rolls of fat bulging out rather unflatteringly as the flimsy garment struggled to contain her impressive bulk.

As Joy and Sadness stood in front of her, one smiling enormously, the other staring at her feet miserably, the rather portly princess gestured nonchalantly to a rack of costumes behind her.

"What would you like then?" She asked gruffly, the same bored expression never leaving her face as she spoke.

Joy rubbed her hands together in jubilation and without bothering to ask Sadness for her opinion, she pointed excitedly to a glittery gold tiara. "How about that gorgeous tiara for my friend?!"

She placed a hand on the blue Emotion's back proudly and declared, "She's going to be Cinderella today!"

Sadness gave a despondent sigh, her shoulders slouching as she resigned herself to her fate. It was pointless arguing with Joy about matters like this…

The Mind Worker rolled her eyes unconvincingly and handed Joy the tiara. "And what about you?" She grumbled flatly.

Joy tapped her chin thoughtfully as she studied all the costumes and props on offer. Finally her eyes settled on a plastic wand propped up against the wall and she pointed to it excitedly. "I'll take that wand with the star tip! That way I can be the Fairy Godmother!"

The yellow Emotion gave a cheerful laugh and waved a finger tauntingly in the Princess Mind Worker's unimpressed face. "And if you don't hurry, I'll turn you into a pumpkin!"

The Princess gave a bored sigh and after offering the two Emotions their desired props, she opened the gate and permitted them entry into the fairground beyond.

Joy shoved the tiara onto Sadness' head and with her Fairy Godmother wand in hand, she led her blue companion onto a carousel. As Joy shouted "Yippee!" with unrestrained delight, Sadness almost fell asleep on her horse. By the time the ride was over, she had nearly fallen off twice!

Joy helped her shorter friend off the ride and took her by the hand, her eyes scanning the multitude of carnival rides and attractions as she tried to decide what they should do next.

Suddenly her eyes lit up with elation as she located the one ride she was looking forward to going on most of all…

"Oh I know just the thing to wake you up Sadness!" She offered jubilantly. "Let's go on a rollercoaster! Doesn't that sound fun?!"

"No…" Sadness yawned miserably, her eyes half-closed as she struggled to stay awake.

But Joy wasn't taking "No" for an answer and without further ado, she dragged her blue colleague over to the biggest, most adrenaline-pumping attraction on Goofball Island…a ride aptly called "Emotional Rollercoaster."

And the best thing about it…

Joy and Sadness had the whole ride to themselves today!

The two Emotions boarded the rollercoaster, heading straight for the first car. Just as they were settling into their seats, a very short, funny-looking safety attendant dressed in a pirate costume walked up to them. The pirate wore a black wig that obscured most of his face along with a huge hat with a Jolly Roger design on it and a red coat and black trousers. He had an eye-patch over his right eye and a tiny plastic sword strapped to his belt.

Without introducing himself or saying a word to his passengers, the short pirate headed straight for Sadness and started securing the safety bar across her lap.

Joy stared at the strange little fellow and chuckled teasingly, "Oh look Sadness! We've got our very own Captain of the High Seas for an attendant! But don't pirates usually have a _tiny_ wooden leg…"

She raised an eyebrow suspiciously at their pirate friend and observed, "This one has what looks like an oak tree for a leg!"

Joy wasn't overly exaggerating either! As Sadness glanced over at her helpful assistant, she did indeed notice that the pirate's left leg looked unusually swollen, as though he was wearing a cast or some other binding under his wooden leg prop…

The blue Emotion shrugged dismissively and stared at her feet tiredly, resting her tiny hands across the safety bar now secured in place across her lap.

Joy however couldn't hide her curiosity and with her mood already soaring with excitement as she anticipated the thrills that lay ahead of them, she remarked jokingly, "Hey did your parrot fall off your shoulder and injure your poor leg Mr. Pirate?"

The pirate growled under his breath irritably, clenching his fists as steam rose from beneath his hat. He hastily finished securing Sadness' safety bar and without a word, turned to leave as the rollercoaster rumbled into life.

Joy stared at the little pirate incredulously and cleared her throat with a loud "Ahem!"

"Excuse me? Mr. Pirate?" She called hesitantly. "Aren't you forgetting something? What about _my_ safety bar?"

Grinding his teeth crossly, the pirate ambled back to the two ride-goers. Fuming with rage, he slammed the bar roughly across Joy's lap, causing the yellow Emotion to emit a startled yelp.

From beside her, Sadness stared at the pirate with a puzzled expression on her face. But it wasn't because of Joy's unexpected outburst that had peaked her interest. Sadness thought she recognized something very familiar about the pirate's demeanor and the way his head steamed when he got annoyed like that…

Before Joy could confront the pirate about his rude conduct, he pressed a lever on a nearby control panel and the rollercoaster lurched forward. Seconds later, it shot into the air like a rocket, their terrified screams trailing off into the distance as the thrills and spills of the ride commenced...

 _To Be Continued…_

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **I decided that I needed to split the Goofball Island chapter into two parts because it would have been way too long to explain everything in one go!**

 **Anyway, I promise there's a lot more fun and mischief in store for Joy and Sadness (as well as a certain red Emotion) in the next chapter…**

 **Yes. I haven't forgotten that this story is meant to be a TearBrick and I can assure you there will be many more TearBrick moments to come before this story is finished! (Have you guessed who was following Joy and Sadness through Long Term memory? I'll give you a hint: it was the same individual who was dressed as a pirate later on when Joy and Sadness went on the rollercoaster…)**

 **Thank you to the following people for your support and reviews on this story so far:**

 **Orangebird124**

 **HollyAnne1084**

 **Tripledent**

 **Justin Bonesteel**

 **Next I'm going to return to "Secrets of an Emotional Mind" and start working on a chapter I've been looking forward to for a long time now…it's time to start writing the Fear Family Reunion :)**

 **Svinorita**


	6. Goofball Mayhem Part 2

**Chapter 6 – Goofball Mayhem Part 2.**

After five adrenaline-pumping minutes, the Emotional Rollercoaster pulled into the station and came to a screeching halt. Sadness fumbled around dizzily, her glasses sitting crookedly on her nose and her blue hair sticking up wildly like Joy's as she attempted to step off the ride and onto solid ground again.

Unfortunately, her brain and her feet were still not quite in sync following the high-speed blast around Goofball Island, and she ended up doing a rather impressive face plant as she misjudged the short gap between the rollercoaster car and the platform.

The blue Emotion gave a muffled groan as she lay face down on the concrete platform, the queasiness in her stomach making her turn a sickly shade of blue-gray.

Joy however, couldn't have felt more different. The fun-loving yellow Emotion whooped with delight as she leaped from the rollercoaster car gracefully. She had enjoyed every hair-raising second, her enthusiastic laughter constantly in the background throughout the duration of the ride.

Now she plopped down on the floor next to Sadness with a massive grin of exhilaration on her face. "Wow! What a thrill! Wasn't that just awesome Sadness?!" She beamed happily.

Sadness didn't even bother to lift her face from the floor, her only response to Joy's enthusiasm being another groan of misery.

"My head is still spinning and I'm seeing stars!" Joy expressed with undeterred excitement. She slid her hands under Sadness' arms and disregarding her friend's moan of distress, she propped the blue Emotion into a sitting position next to her.

"Come on Sadness! Where's your sense of fun gone?" Joy prompted cheerfully.

Flashing her a warm smile, Joy began tickling the increasingly queasy blue Emotion under her chin playfully.

"Oh Joy…please don't do that!" Sadness complained feebly, her face turning even grayer as she swallowed back the bile rising into her throat.

"I think I'm going to be sick…" She groaned, covering her mouth with her hand as she turned away from Joy in a desperate attempt to keep her breakfast down.

Joy regarded her friend with a questioning look, her blue eyes flashing with excitement as she nudged Sadness with her elbow playfully.

"Oh? Did you and Anger have a heavy case of the munchies last night?" She asked in a softly teasing voice. "Did he by any chance make you some of his famous spicy tacos?"

Sadness blushed and shifted uncomfortably beside Joy. "No! It was just that crazy up and down motion of the rollercoaster…"

She looked down shyly and muttered, "I guess I'm just not used to travelling at such high speeds."

"Uh huh…" Joy studied her blue companion's face unconvincingly. She waited for Sadness to say more, but apparently her friend had decided that the matter was closed and remained silent, her gloomy gaze fixed markedly on the floor in front of her.

Finally, Joy sighed in defeat and turned her attention to their surroundings, her eyes scanning the fairgrounds eagerly as she tried to decide what ride or activity they should do next.

Suddenly her keen gaze settled on a large derelict-looking mansion a few yards to their left. Joy could hardly contain her excitement as she took Sadness by the arm and dragged her to her feet.

A huge smile of delight spread across her face as she pointed to the run-down mansion and exclaimed, "Oh Sadness look! I know just the thing to take your mind off the queasiness in your tummy!"

The yellow emotion didn't even wait for a response as she started pulling Sadness towards the mansion, her voice lilting with excitement as she suggested merrily, "Let's go in the Haunted House next!"

Sadness allowed her cheerful friend to drag her along reluctantly, her natural blue color slowly returning as she turned her thoughts away from her upset stomach and concentrated on her new predicament.

"Oh Joy…can't we just sit here for a while instead?" The little Emotion begged feebly as Joy pulled her up to the entrance of the Haunted House and got in line behind a few miserable-looking Mind Workers. The odd little fellows must have been on their lunch breaks and seeking a cheap thrill to pass the time before returning to their jobs.

Joy glanced down at her blue companion and shot her an encouraging smile. "No can do my friend!"

She nodded briskly at a short, grumpy-looking ticket attendant wearing a Wizard's costume with her chin. "That little Wizard over there is already admitting visitors!"

Sadness looked up wearily at where Joy was indicating and gave a despondent sigh. "Fine then…"

Joy fidgeted impatiently like a young child standing in line at an ice cream parlor as the attendant in the Wizard costume handed out tickets and permitted each guest into the Haunted House one by one.

Finally, the two Emotions reached the front of the queue. Joy skipped up to the booth enthusiastically, Sadness shuffling along less energetically behind her.

"Two tickets my Wonderful Wizard of Oz!" Joy chirped, thrusting two fingers in the attendant's face as she spoke. Apparently, she must have thought the little Wizard was mathematically challenged or something.

The Wizard was not amused by Joy's brazen approach and grumbled something incomprehensible under his breath. Glaring at the yellow Emotion crossly he retrieved two tickets from behind his counter.

He was dressed in a long purple cloak with a shaggy gray beard that reached almost to the ground. A big pointy hat covered most of his face so that only his eyes were visible and this gave him a perpetually moody appearance. On a lighter note, he was so short that he needed to stand on a chair just to see over the booth's counter!

Joy gently elbowed Sadness and whispered excitedly, "You know, that Wizard really reminds me of someone, but I can't for the life of me figure out who…"

Sadness was looking at the Wizard with equal scrutiny. He reminded her of someone too but unlike Joy, she had a pretty good hunch about who…

Slowly, a half-smile of recognition formed on Sadness' lips as she started to say, "Oh Joy! It's…"

Before she could finish, Joy interrupted her with a triumphant "Aha!"

The yellow Emotion snapped her fingers in revelation, a broad grin appearing on her face as she announced confidently, "Oh I got it! He reminds me of that Pirate from the rollercoaster!"

Her eyes widened with glee as she hinted excitedly, "Hey! Do you suppose this guy and the Pirate could be brothers or something? They are both so short and grumpy…why those two could practically be twins!"

Sadness looked at her friend quizzically. She opened her mouth and was about to correct Joy's misconception when she convinced herself otherwise. Instead the teardrop averted her eyes to the ground and gave a small sigh of exasperation.

 _There really is no point in trying to argue with her…_ the blue Emotion thought to herself dismally.

Meanwhile, the Wizard handed the tickets to Joy with a cranky "Here!"

Then he addressed both Emotions in a gruff voice. "Welcome to the Haunted Mansion! Please follow the marked path at all times and do not touch any of the props and animatronics…"

He trailed off and gave Sadness a knowing wink, seemingly directing the next bit of information specifically at her as he offered, "And if at any time you feel scared, don't hesitate to call me!"

Sadness blinked in surprise at this apparent show of concern towards her, and she couldn't help giving the Wizard a weak smile of appreciation. Joy meanwhile, was staring at him questioningly, tapping a finger against her chin thoughtfully as she tried to figure out why the Wizard's voice sounded so familiar to her…

It seemed like one moment his voice was very deep and grouchy, then it would suddenly rise several octaves and come out sounding high-pitched and strained…almost as if he was trying to deliberately distort his true voice!

Her suspicions were further confounded when their Wizard guide suddenly went into a serious bout of coughing as his voice rose and fell erratically.

Eventually, Joy put her uncertainties aside and shrugged dismissively. She and Sadness were here to have fun and she wasn't about to waste time obsessing over this grouchy little Wizard and his fluctuating vocals!

The yellow Emotion glanced down at Sadness and raised her eyebrow quizzically as she noticed an almost serene smile on her friend's face.

She cleared her throat gently and elbowed the little blue Emotion again. "Sadness! We're about to go into the Haunted House! At least pretend to be scared!"

"Oh…right…" Sadness replied half-heartedly as Joy shot the Wizard a final scrutinizing glare before leading her into the Haunted Mansion.

XXX

The two Emotions set out on their tour through the Haunted House attraction. Along the way, they encountered many spine-chilling props and puppets that would have given Fear a heart attack!

Massive spider webs hung from the ceiling and at the visitors' eye-level, many of them sporting huge hairy spiders at their hubs or dangling from cables that were programed to drop down on unsuspecting guests as they passed through doorways and entered other sections of the house.

As Joy and Sadness made their way through the foreboding gloom of the mansion's interior, they encountered floating ghostly apparitions and animatronic zombies with gory faces walking around aimlessly. Despite their gruesome appearances the zombies were somewhat overshadowed by their comical shuffling and it quickly became apparent that some of them seemed to be malfunctioning a little.

Instead of sticking to their designated routes, the zombies with glitches wound up walking straight into walls or falling over for no apparent reason, their robotic arms and legs still flailing around as they ceaselessly tried to obey their faulty programming.

In addition to these, Joy and Sadness were scared more than once by vampires jumping out at them from hidden alcoves, their plastic fangs dripping with fake blood as they lunged at unsuspecting passersby only to be jerked back into their starting positions by concealed cables.

After wandering through the Haunted House for ten minutes, Joy and Sadness arrived at the exit. Much to their surprise, they saw the carnival attendant in the Wizard costume standing in the doorway as though he were waiting especially for them.

Upon seeing the two Emotions, the attendant opened the door and beckoned to them to exit the Haunted House with a casual wave of his arm. Unfortunately, he must have hit a concealed cable in the process because all of a sudden a very life-like skeleton fell on top of him, knocking him face-first on the ground with a startled grunt!

" **HOLY HOTDOGS!"** The Wizard screamed in outrage. He shoved the fallen prop off and leapt to his feet, growling and cursing as he kicked the skeleton's skull so hard, that it detached from the rest of the prop and flew past Joy's head like a grinning white cannonball.

The yellow Emotion ducked instinctively, her quick reflexes saving her from getting nailed right between the eyes by the flying skull. The skull sailed over the top of Joy's head and collided with a wall at the back of the room with such force, that it embedded itself into the plaster, its lower jaw falling off and clattering to the floor as though it couldn't believe that it was decapitated by such a small Wizard!

As Joy recovered from the shock of her near-miss, she glanced back at the exit and noticed that the infuriated Wizard was gone. Fortunately, he had chosen to vent his fury on the now headless plastic skeleton instead of them and Joy couldn't help breathing a deep sigh of relief.

"Wow that little Wizard has a serious temper on him! If I didn't know that Anger is back at Headquarters, I would have sworn that sounded just like him!" Joy commented half-jokingly as she placed a hand on Sadness' shoulder and led her to the exit.

For her part, Sadness had remained strangely calm throughout the whole incident. She nodded in silent agreement to Joy's statement, the faintest of smiles appearing on her lips as she followed her friend out of the Haunted Mansion and into the sunlight outside.

As soon as they emerged into the light, Joy studied at her blue companion with curiosity. Sadness hadn't said a word since they encountered that temperamental Wizard at the exit to the Haunted House and she was starting to feel a little perturbed by her friend's prolonged silence.

But all her worries melted away as soon as she saw the content expression on Sadness' face! Joy felt a pleased smile spread across her lips as she gave the blue Emotion a friendly squeeze on the shoulder.

"That's the spirit Sadness! It looks like you're finally enjoying yourself! Didn't I promise you that we would have fun here?" She crooned cheerfully.

Sadness nodded meekly at Joy's encouragement. She shot her yellow co-worker a shy smile and continued walking on in contented silence.

After a few minutes, the two Emotions arrived at a stand with several clown heads lined up in a row. Despite Riley and her Emotions innate phobia of clowns, these particular carnival props were nowhere near as terrifying as Jangles; the gigantic mallet-swinging crazy monster of a clown that lived down in the Subconscious!

Instead, Joy found these rotating painted heads with gaping holes for mouths hilarious and she gave a little squeal of excitement and led Sadness up to the stand eagerly.

"Oh Sadness look! The Laughing Clowns game! Let me show you just how precise I am at hitting moving targets!" She boasted as she skipped up to the vacant booth and looked around for the attendant.

Failing to locate anyone, Joy drummed her fingers against the wooden counter impatiently, her formally chirpy voice taking on a bitter edge as she hollered, "Excuse me? Is there anybody working here?!"

Suddenly a short attendant dressed in Elvis-style white coveralls encrusted with rhinestones, ambled into the booth from a side entrance. The tiny Elvis impersonator was wearing a jet black comb-over wig, complete with heavy sideburns and massive dark sunglasses that were perched on his face awkwardly.

As Joy stared at him with increasing curiosity, she noticed something very peculiar about Mini Elvis…

For some strange reason, Elvis was wearing a big pointy wizard's hat on top of his slicked back hair!

Joy glanced down at Sadness and realized that she too had the same confused expression etched on her own face.

The yellow Emotion turned her attention back to the Elvis impersonator and was about to question him about his odd choice of headgear, when he announced loudly, "You two ladies look like you're ready to play a mean game! Come and test your skills by throwing five balls into the Laughing Clown's mouth for a chance to win some fine prizes!"

At the mention of this, Joy completely forgot about Elvis' little identity crisis and her blue eyes lit up with pure exhilaration.

"Of course we are ready to play King! Thank you very much!" She said in her best imitation of The King's voice.

After Elvis had handed her five rubber balls, Joy took careful aim at her targets. Her stance was reminiscent of an Olympic Shot-putter as she threw all five balls with unerring accuracy straight into the clowns gaping mouths in rapid succession.

"YES! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Joy exclaimed, doing a victory dance on the spot in celebration.

"No one can beat that!" She bragged confidently, her overbearing show of self-satisfaction resulting in Elvis giving a very Anger-like growl of irritation.

From beside the beaming yellow Emotion, Sadness sighed despondently. "You're probably right there Joy…"

She took the five rubber balls offered to her by the silently seething Elvis with hesitation. Then staring miserably at the clowns mocking faces, she proceeded to throw lazily and without commitment. Her first shot missed the target completely and bounced off the back wall embarrassingly.

And unfortunately for the little blue Emotion, her subsequent attempts didn't fare any better…

Her next toss hit one of the clown heads in the eye, only to be followed up with a throw that bounced off another clown's chin. Sadness' fourth attempt didn't even make it anywhere near the Laughing Clowns, as she hurled the ball sluggishly and watched it drop like a deadweight onto the ground a few feet in front of her.

But it was her final attempt that was the most spectacular failure!

Sadness glared at the small colorful ball in her hand resentfully, its benign appearance taunting her and making her feel frustrated with herself for being unable to complete this simple challenge. She squeezed the ball and gave an impressive grunt of effort as she threw it towards one of the targets with all her might. To her utter dismay, the ball sailed past the Laughing Clowns and wound up knocking the wizard's hat right off Elvis' head, sending the king ducking for cover with a surprised yelp.

A few seconds later, both Emotions heard what sounded like another Anger-like curse coming from behind the counter as Elvis got to his feet and dusted off his rhinestone coveralls gingerly.

The King didn't even seem to notice his missing hat as he looked at Joy and Sadness contemplatively before announcing with a forced smile, "Good game ladies. That was very… _eventful_ , but I think you both know who the winner is…?"

Joy nodded triumphantly as she stepped forward and spread her arms wide, a huge grin on her face as she eagerly waited to receive her prize. Elvis plucked a giant stuffed panda from a shelf of toys and Joy's eyes lit up with admiration.

 _Yay! A panda! What an adorable and lovable animal!_ She pondered with elation, her massive smile growing even wider as Elvis stepped out of the booth with the giant plush panda in tow.

Then to Joy's utter disbelief, the attendant shuffled right past her and gently pushed the panda straight into Sadness' arms!

"EXCUSE ME! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!" Joy shrieked in outrage, a frown of disapproval appearing on her face as she glowered at Elvis crossly.

"Do you need to borrow my friend's glasses or something?" She sneered defiantly, her uncharacteristic aggression making Sadness flinch uncomfortably as she hid behind her panda, which was almost as tall as she was while Joy continued on her tirade.

The yellow Emotion pointed to the Laughing Clowns and back to herself as she argued, "I hit all five targets perfectly whereas _she_ missed every single one! That panda should be mine!"

Elvis growled under his breath, slowly clenching and unclenching his fists as he struggled to keep his voice level. "Correct me if I'm wrong Miss, but didn't you come out here to cheer your friend up?"

Joy gasped guiltily and covered her mouth with her hand as she shot Sadness an apologetic look. "Oh! Of course…" She uttered shamefully, her eyes searching her blue companion's forgivingly.

"Elvis is right! I've was acting like a total jerk just now…" Joy knelt down and gave the blue Emotion a reassuring hug. "I'm so sorry Sadness!"

"You can have the panda." She whispered gently, ruffling her friend's blue hair playfully as she added sweetly, "It's just as soft and cuddly as you!"

"Ah…thanks…Joy…I guess?" Sadness mumbled uncertainly as she returned Joy's hug.

Joy gave a relieved smile as she pulled away gently after a few seconds. Her voice was full of friendliness as she offered, "You know what? I'm going to get some cotton candy for us! I bet you'd love some just as much as I would right now!"

Before Sadness could reply, Joy got to her feet and started skipping off in the direction of the cotton candy kiosk. "You just wait here and I'll be right back!" She called chirpily, leaving Sadness staring at her departing back with a grateful expression on her blue face.

As soon as Joy had left, Sadness glanced over at the carnival attendant in the Elvis outfit. The King flashed her a quick smile before turning his attention back to the mess she had made with the Laughing Clown stand. He busied himself picking up the rubber balls she had scattered all over the place, whistling softly as he worked.

Sadness stared at her prize with admiration. She felt a warm glow in her heart as she gazed into the stuffed panda's beady brown eyes. They reminded her a little of a certain red Emotion with his deep amber-colored eyes…

Sighing dreamily, she began walking towards a big shady tree near the carousel that she and Joy had ridden earlier, dragging the panda along the ground behind her since it was too big for her to carry conveniently. It was getting rather hot in the open and she decided to wait for Joy to return with their cotton candy someplace cooler.

The little blue Emotion was halfway to the inviting shade of the tree when all of a sudden, two rough-looking Mind Workers dressed in black leather jackets and holding half-eaten sticks of cotton candy appeared from behind a nearby booth and blocked her path.

One of the thugs looked at Sadness with a nasty smirk, nudging his buddy with his elbow as he remarked coldly, "Hey Tim! Check out this miserable blue Cinderella!"

The other bully; Tim snorted with amusement and retorted, "Hey Princess! Where has your Prince Charming disappeared to?!"

Sadness sniffled quietly and removed the golden tiara Joy had given her self-consciously, her cheeks beginning to burn from embarrassment as she started backing away from the mean Mind Workers.

She had barely taken three steps when one of the punks circled around quickly and blocked her retreat, his friend sniggering as he shoved Sadness in the back roughly, making her drop her panda as she pitched forward clumsily.

"He probably ran off with one of the Ugly Step-Sisters when he saw how miserable his True Love was!" The first bully sniped cruelly, his critical laughter biting like a knife as Sadness glanced at him with tear-filled eyes.

"Ha, ha, ha! Good one Jim!" The mind Worker named Tim replied as he joined in with his friend's snide laughter.

By now, Sadness' lips were quivering and tears streamed down her cheeks as she turned and attempted to flee from the two bullies, leaving her panda in the dust in her desperation.

Tim and Jim continued to call out nasty comments as she ran, her tears flowing so excessively by now that they completely filled her glasses and blurred her vision. The little Emotion sobbed loudly as she ran, covering her eyes with her hands in a futile attempt to hide from the harassment.

Unfortunately by doing so, she failed to notice that same tree she had been seeking shade from moments ago until it was too late…

With her hands still covering her face, Sadness ran headfirst straight into the tree with a terrific CRASH! The impact of hitting the trunk was so great, that the poor Emotion ended up knocking herself out cold! A few leaves fluttered down around her as she lay flat on her back with her eyes closed, a nasty-looking red welt already beginning to form on her forehead.

Meanwhile, the two bullies who had caused the accident were both laughing so hard that they had tears and snot running down their faces as they high-fived each other and exchanged further comments at Sadness' expense.

Suddenly the air was filled with an outraged **"GRRRAHHHH!"**

Tim and Jim both whirled around in surprise as the carnival attendant wearing the Elvis outfit appeared on the scene and placed himself in between them and Sadness. Flames were raging on top of his head, incinerating his comb-over wig in seconds as he glared at the Mind Workers with seething resentment before executing some mean karate moves which made the two bullies look at each other uncomfortably.

" **YOU MISERABLE LITTLE SCUMBAGS!"** The now bald Elvis impersonator roared as he took a few menacing steps towards Tim and Jim.

His amber eyes flashed with pure hatred as he snarled furiously, **"I OFFERED TO TAKE YOUR DUTIES AND GIVE YOU THE REST OF THE DAY OFF AND YOU TWO PUNKS GO AND HARASS MY GIRL?!"**

The Mind Worker named Jim stared back defiantly at angry Elvis, a wicked smile on his blotchy green face as he sneered sarcastically, "Oh we're terribly sorry King…or is it Prince Charming?"

His equally obnoxious friend; Tim pointed to Sadness' inert form and leered, "Maybe a kiss from her True Love will revive her?"

With that, the two bullies turned and walked off in the opposite direction, their cackling laughter fading into the distance as Elvis fumed and cursed to himself caustically.

"Jerks!" He growled furiously before turning his attention to Sadness, his angry eyes suddenly filling with concern. She was still unconscious, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she drew in shallow breaths, her glasses lying in the dirt beside her, the force of her collision with the tree flinging them right off her face.

With concern beginning to grip his heart like a vice, the attendant knelt down beside the blue Emotion. He picked up her hand and squeezed it gently as he called her name softly, his thoughts racing as he frantically tried to think how to wake her up.

All of a sudden, a lightbulb went off inside his head as he recalled what that punk Tim had said about a kiss of true love…

 _Maybe…just maybe it's crazy enough to work…_ He thought, a sheepish grin flashing across his face briefly as he leaned over Sadness and stared at her unconscious face with fondness.

"Please be okay Kiddo…" Elvis whispered as he stroked her hair tenderly before planting the gentlest of kisses on her blue lips.

Sadness opened her eyes slowly, blinking several times in confusion as she stared at the blurry red face hovering above hers.

"Anger?" She moaned weakly, her vision distorted since she wasn't wearing her glasses.

The red figure gave a huge sigh of relief. "It worked! It actually worked!"

He stared down at her with admiration, his rejoice momentarily tuning to confusion as he noted the odd way she kept blinking as though she were finding it difficult to focus properly.

"Oh of course! Your glasses…" He mumbled apologetically as he retrieved Sadness' glasses from the ground and put them on her face gently.

With her vision restored once again, Sadness smiled up at the red Emotion gratefully. "Oh Anger! My protector! I knew it was you all along!"

She sat up and gave the Pirate/Wizard/Elvis impersonating Emotion a massive hug. Anger grunted in surprise, before returning the gesture awkwardly. He wasn't the most touchy/feely Emotion by nature, but for some reason, he didn't mind being hugged by Sadness.

In fact, he decided that he liked it quite a lot!

 _I can get used to this…!_ Anger mused as he patted the blue Emotion on the back gently, a serene smile appearing on his normally grumpy red face.

Just then, their little public display of affection was rudely interrupted by a piercing shriek coming from behind them.

" **ANGER?!"**

Anger and Sadness both looked up in time to see Joy standing a few feet away, her startling blue eyes wide and the two sticks of cotton candy she had been carrying now lying on the ground, the unbelievable sight before her making her drop them out of shock…

XXX

Meanwhile back at Headquarters…

Disgust let out a bored sigh as she stood near the console by herself. Although she had been looking forward to some downtime and a break from Joy's hyper energy lately, the green Emotion quickly discovered that Headquarters was now too quiet for her liking.

Ever since Joy and Sadness had set out on their little adventure on Goofball Island this morning, Disgust was left stationed at the controls all by herself, her two supposed helpers in the form of Anger and Fear apparently thinking that they could just disappear as well and leave her solely in charge of Riley for the day!

As Disgust continued to sulk about her current predicament, Fear was busy tinkering in the kitchen. The purple Emotion couldn't have felt more different than his green colleague about the peace and quiet reigning in Headquarters today. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this content!

Riley had had a pleasantly uneventful day at school (sure there were moments when time almost seemed to be standing still purely from boredom) but the main thing is that nothing even remotely dangerous had happened to their host today!

That in itself made Fear feel a huge sense of accomplishment and he saw no need to loiter around the console with Disgust and Anger.

Speaking of Anger, the temperamental red Emotion had been unusually quiet all day…in fact, Fear can't recall seeing much of him for the past few hours now.

But instead of becoming concerned about his red co-worker's prolonged absence, Fear found himself feeling strangely at ease. Whatever had been keeping Anger so preoccupied all day, Fear was just grateful that his fiery colleague had found something else to busy himself with instead of venting his frustrations out on him for a change!

The purple Emotion hummed contentedly as he poured himself another cup of relaxing herbal tea.

 _This day couldn't get any better…_ He mused as he stirred his tea, closing his eyes as he let his guard down and became lost in his almost blissful mood.

Then without warning, Disgust's shrill complaining voice came drifting in from the main room and startled Fear right out of his daydreams.

He gave an instinctive shriek of alarm and dropped the jar of sugar he was holding with a loud clatter on the kitchen floor as Disgust whined peevishly, "Fear this sucks! The girls are off having fun while the three of us are stuck here!"

The purple Emotion grumbled something under his breath in annoyance as he stared dismally at the sugar he had spilt all over the floor.

 _Correction: This day could get a whole lot better if Disgust didn't complain about everything so much!_ He thought as he grabbed the dustpan and brush out of the cabinet and started mopping up the mess with a sigh.

While he was cleaning up the spilt sugar from the floor, Disgust walked into the kitchen with a contemplative frown on her face. "Fear, have you seen Anger around? I haven't seen or heard him throwing a tantrum for a few hours now…"

Fear looked up from his cleaning with a puzzled expression and shrugged earnestly. "No I'm afraid I haven't."

Even as he said it, the corner of his mouth twitched as he fought back a grin of extreme satisfaction.

 _And that's just the way I like it!_ He thought to himself smugly.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **I hope you all had fun on Goofball Island with me!**

 **But all good things must come to an end…**

 **This story has one more chapter in it, so I will put that together next and hopefully have it ready sometime next week.**

 **I hope you all stick around! And after that let's leave our cute little couple to enjoy their lovey-dovey relationship and move on to other stories!**

 **For all my readers in the USA, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving :)**

 **And to all my other readers from around the world, I hope you all have a great day filled with lots of happiness :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	7. Tears and Tacos

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Well here we are guys! Last chapter! I had a lot of fun writing this prequel to "Anger Loves Sadness" but as friend of mine said, all good stories must come to an end eventually!**

 **Besides this is a prequel and I can't really see what else I can add to it without making the TearBrick relationship too advanced at this stage… those of you who have read "Anger Loves Sadness" already know what happens next for our adorable little couple and this story was intended to focus on the events leading up to that point in their relationship :)**

 **I want to send out a huge thank you to the following people for your wonderful reviews and support, as well as to those who have favorited or followed this story:**

 **Orangebird124 – Thank you so much for sharing this request with me and for your ongoing encouragement and support! This story was created based on your request and I thank you enormously for that :)**

 **HollyAnne1084 – Thank you so much for your sweet reviews throughout this story as well as to my other stories! Your comments always leave me feeling good about my work and I am happy to return the favor any chance I get :)**

 **Tripledent – Thank you so much for your constructive reviews and for sharing your thoughts/ideas many times in your feedback :)**

 **Justin Bonesteel – Thank you for all your comments and feedback on this story! I'm glad you enjoyed this TearBrick as much as "Anger Loves Sadness" :)**

 **Pearl Bramble of Willowbottom – Thanks for your review! I know you don't always have time to review every chapter but I appreciate your support and I'm happy to return the favor anytime :)**

 **In addition to my reviewers, I want to thank the following people for adding this story to your favorite/follows lists:**

 **Death of a Dark Angel**

 **Empty Sadness**

 **Brunaalessandracs**

 **Calliebraun666**

 **And finally, thank you to all the silent readers out there who have also enjoyed this prequel!**

 **I think that's all I wanted to say for now, so let's get straight into the final chapter of "Midnight Blues" and I hope you all enjoy the ending (or is it really just the beginning of Anger and Sadness' relationship?!)**

 **See you all in my next story!**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7 – Tears and Tacos.**

Joy, Sadness and Anger returned to Headquarters later that evening. Disgust and Fear were both standing around the Recall tube, waiting to welcome the girls back from their fun day out to Goofball Island.

The last thing they were expecting to see was Anger popping out of the Tube behind the girls, wearing a slightly singed white rhinestone jacket!

The green and purple Emotions stared at the surprising sight with wide eyes and mouths hanging agape in silent shock.

Finally it was Disgust who recovered her wits first.

Stepping towards the three arrivals, she fixed Anger with a quizzical glare before addressing Joy probingly, "Well what do we have here?! No wonder it has been so quiet and dull around here all day! Weren't only you and Sadness supposed to go to Goofball together? "

Joy shot a peevish glare at her red co-worker. The corner of her mouth twitched with irritation as she answered Disgust in a controlled voice, "Yeah well that was the plan originally…but it turns out we had an undercover bodyguard!"

The yellow Emotion rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath tartly, "And a bit of a nuisance!"

All eyes turned to Anger, who shifted uncomfortably under the scrutinizing gazes of his fellow Emotions. But at the same time he tried to make himself look as intimidating as he could by scowling deeply and pulling his lips back in a sneer, revealing his crooked teeth.

After a few tense moments, Joy shrugged dismissively. "But anyway, we could have used someone strong to carry this giant panda plush that Sadness _won_ …" She suggested dryly.

Disgust and Fear were so shocked to discover that Anger had snuck out to spy on Joy and Sadness, that they both hadn't even noticed the huge stuffed panda sitting on the ground between the red and blue Emotions!

A wry smirk appeared on Disgust's face as she noted how Anger was holding the panda by one of its front paws while Sadness grasped its other paw. Fear's eyes grew wider with surprise as he took in the sight, his axon forming a question mark above his head which pretty much summed up how he felt about this latest development.

Realizing just how ridiculous he must have looked, Anger dropped his imposing expression and quickly averted his eyes to the floor in embarrassment, thankful once again that he was red all over so the others wouldn't notice him blushing!

Sadness on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the attention at all and she stared off into space with a content smile on her face.

Suddenly Joy's upbeat voice interrupted all their thoughts as she chimed in eagerly, "By the way, is there anything to eat around here? I'm feeling famished after all that excitement today!"

Disgust looked at her yellow co-worker apologetically and offered, "Not really Joy…you know that both Fear and I are not big eaters." She added whilst giving her purple co-worker a half smile.

Fear nodded shyly and looked away from Joy's hopeful expression timidly.

"Actually hang on a minute…" Disgust said as she remembered the meagre meal Fear had prepared for breakfast shortly after Joy and Sadness set out on their adventure.

"Fear _did_ make some fruit salad with custard earlier." The green Emotion offered helpfully. She doubted it would appeal to Joy, but still it was food after all…

Joy gave a reluctant sigh and nodded. "Fine…that will have to do. I was hoping for something a bit more substantial than that rabbit food, but right now I'll eat anything!"

Fear chuckled sheepishly and still avoiding eye-contact with his yellow co-worker, stammered, "Uh okay then…I'll just go and get that…I think there's a little left over…"

The purple Emotion turned to go, but before he had taken two steps, Anger's gruff voice stopped him. "Forget that! Would you like me to whip up some tacos?"

The short red Emotion let go of the giant panda plush he was holding onto up till now and grinned boastfully at the others. "I could go for a snack myself! And I can confidently say that it won't take me long to prepare enough spicy tacos for everyone." He declared proudly.

Disgust pulled a classic face of repulsion at his suggestion. "Urgh! There's no way I'm eating that high-calorie junk!"

Fear nodded in agreement with his green co-worker. He shuddered convulsively as he muttered, "Yeah. Do you have any idea what eating spicy food can do to your digestive system?! I'm going to pass on that offer as well!"

Joy on the other hand was looking decidedly impressed with Anger's offer. She beamed happily at her red colleague and replied cheerfully, "That's not a bad idea! It certainly sounds more appealing than the alternative…"

She quickly flashed Fear an apologetic smile and admitted with a shrug, "Besides, I really like your tacos! In fact I think that's the best thing you've said all day Anger!"

The short red Emotion grunted and mumbled something under his breath as he marched purposefully into the kitchen. Sadness had a dreamy look on her face as she followed closely behind him, hugging her panda to her chest as she whispered quietly, "I'll be right there in a minute. I just need to put this in my room first…"

Joy, Fear and Disgust exchanged bemused looks as they watched their other two co-workers before heading into the kitchen as well.

XXX

While they waited for Anger to finish preparing his signature taco recipe, Joy sat at the kitchen counter, munching contentedly on the leftovers of Fear's fruit salad.

"Mmm…I've got to hand it to you Fear, this is actually pretty good!" She complimented her purple colleague as she took another bite of the fruit and custard salad.

Fear blushed and looked away shyly. "Uh…thanks Joy…" He mumbled meekly.

After a few minutes, Anger looked up from the stove with a large grin of satisfaction scrawled over his face.

"All done! Come and get while it's hot!" He announced proudly.

Joy quickly forgot about the fruit salad and jumped out of her seat eagerly. She grabbed a plate from one of the kitchen cabinets and skipped over to Anger in delight.

Meanwhile, Disgust turned to Fear and made a sour face, putting two fingers in her mouth in a gesture that implied: _I'm going to be sick!_

Fear nodded in agreement, taking a tentative bite of apple from his own bowl as he enjoyed his light and healthy meal.

Sadness waited patiently for Joy to finish helping herself to Anger's tacos before getting up and serving herself.

After dinner, Joy gathered all her co-workers around the console and told them about her and Sadness' adventure on Goofball Island. As the others listened in thoughtful silence, Sadness seemed content to let her yellow co-worker do most of the talking…

When she believed that no one was looking, she sidled up to Anger and laced her fingers through his fondly, the two of them gazing into each other's eyes with unmistakable affection.

XXX

A couple of hours later, Riley retired to her bed for the night. The Emotions watched as the monitor turned black, signaling that their host had just fallen asleep before making their own preparations for the night.

Joy stood in front of the others and announced in a tired voice, "Well I'm beat! I think I'll join Riley very soon and turn in early tonight!"

Sadness looked up at her with a warm smile and gave her yellow companion a big hug. "Thank you for taking me to Goofball Island Joy. I really did have a good time out there!" She said sincerely.

Joy hugged her blue friend back gently, a proud smile spreading across her face as she responded softly, "No problem Sadness! I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself!"

As Joy held the blue Emotion in a friendly embrace, she directed a questioning look at Anger, who was standing by the sofa looking rather pleased with himself.

He had helped ensure that Sadness' day was memorable too! Why he had even gone through all the trouble of dressing up as a pirate, a wizard and Elvis just so he could watch over her!

But now, Joy was looking at him like she expected him to give her all the credit!

 _Oh how I'd love to wipe that smug grin off her face!_ Anger thought to himself peevishly, his teeth clenched tightly as he struggled to rein in his temper.

Finally, he forced a bitter smile and grumbled in a controlled tone, "Right. Thanks Joy…that was a great idea to take Sadness to Goofball Island and even though I went against your orders and followed you out there, I had a great time too!"

Joy seemed to consider his words carefully for a moment. Then finally she nodded slowly and flashed a forgiving smile at the red Emotion.

"You're right Anger. I was annoyed initially that you decided to spy on us…but I guess at the end of the day, you helped Sadness have a good time and that's all that matters!"

Her smile grew broader and her voice took on its usual cheerful tone. "I forgive you."

Anger grunted stubbornly and sat down on the sofa with his newspaper. Although he was grateful that Joy wasn't mad at him anymore, he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of knowing that!

Besides, he hadn't had a chance to read the daily news in the Mind Reader today and he decided now was the perfect time to catch up on anything interesting that may have happened in Riley's day while he was on Goofball Island.

Thankfully Joy didn't seem perturbed by Anger's lack of acknowledgement to her apology in the slightest! The yellow Emotion turned her attention back to the others and let out a mighty yawn.

"Goodnight everyone! May all your dreams be happy ones!"

With that, Joy bounded up the ramp leading to the Emotions' private sleeping quarters and disappeared from view.

Disgust stared after her yellow co-worker. "I'm beat too. It was really _"entertaining"_ here by myself with just Fear for company." She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her purple colleague.

Fear shot her a sideways glance but remained silent. Even though he had enjoyed the peace and quiet in Headquarters today (especially Anger's prolonged absence!) he had to agree with Disgust, the relaxing mood around here had become dull after a while.

There is only so much tea and downtime he could enjoy in one day! And he didn't exactly find Disgust very captivating to talk to…

Fashion and makeup just wasn't his idea of interesting topics of conversation!

Sadness listened to her co-workers' in quiet sympathy. Even though she was tired too after her busy day with Joy on Goofball, she had volunteered to take Dream Duty tonight nonetheless.

She doubted she would get much sleep from all the thoughts going through her mind from today's adventure.

Besides, she had heard that tonight was meant to be a full moon and that always made her want to stay up and take Dream Duty. It was the only time she ever felt truly at peace and she liked to lose herself in the wonderful fantasy world that Dream Productions tended to broadcast especially on these moonlit nights when Riley didn't have regular dreams…

Sadness smiled serenely as she whispered to the others in a soft reassuring voice, "That's okay. All of you can go to bed now. Since I've been so pampered and spoiled today, I would like to watch over Riley in her sleep and give all of you some much needed rest."

As she spoke, Sadness closed her eyes and recalled that magical night during the last full moon, when Dream Productions had broadcast that realistic and beautiful scene of the moonlit lake instead of playing a regular dream. Sadness had imagined herself in that magical place beaming down from the monitor as if she were really there!

She remembered how she had danced out over the water of the lake which had appeared frozen even though it wasn't winter in that particular image. She desperately wanted to feel beautiful and free like that again, and she knew these rare moments only happened when it was a full moon…

Realizing that she was still standing in front of her co-workers, Sadness opened her eyes and shook her head to clear up the wishful daydream.

Fear and Disgust were both staring at her in confusion, their perplexed expressions making Sadness blush and look down shyly as she mumbled, "Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts again…"

Disgust shrugged and remarked tiredly, "Anyway…thank you for offering to do Dream Duty Sadness!"

She gave a loud yawn, covering her mouth with her hand politely as she stated, "I'm really tired now. I think I'm going to turn in early as well…"

She turned around to walk up the ramp leading to her room, but paused and threw her blue colleague a friendly smile over her shoulder. "Also thanks again for giving me that gorgeous scarf Sadness! You really are the best!"

Sadness gave her a timid smile in response and bade her goodnight as Disgust exited the room, leaving only herself, Anger and Fear near the console.

After a few minutes, Fear announced that he was tired as well and as soon as he had fixed himself a final cup of tea for the night, he said goodnight to Sadness and Anger and retired into his room.

Anger put down his newspaper and hopped off the couch with a grunt. "I'll just go and clean up the mess I made in the kitchen while I was cooking."

As he made his way into the kitchen, Anger turned and added softly, "See you around Kid."

Sadness smiled back at him warmly and watched him enter the small room and disappear from her line of sight.

With a deep contented sigh, the blue Emotion eased herself onto the couch and turned her attention to the monitor, precious memories from today playing in her mind as she waited patiently for the special full moon broadcast from Dream Productions to begin.

XXX

While Sadness made herself comfortable on the sofa, she heard the sound of tinkering coming from the kitchen as Anger scrubbed pots and pans and stacked the plates back into the cabinet, the occasional grunt or soft curse indicating that he was far from thrilled with his current task.

Listening to these Anger-induced noises, Sadness felt a small smile creep across her face as she closed her eyes and thought about everything the red Emotion had done for her today just to cheer her up!

He had put so much time and effort into dressing up as first a pirate, then a wizard and even Elvis just so that Joy wouldn't recognize him and send him back to Headquarters in shame!

But most of all, she kept thinking about how Anger had defended her from those two bullies and then revived her with that kiss after she had knocked herself out by running into that tree.

 _I am so grateful to have him as a protector and a friend…_ the blue Emotion mused as she let out a deep sigh of contentment.

All of a sudden, Sadness was shaken out of her reveries by some rather violent coughing and choking sounds coming from the kitchen.

"Anger!" She gasped in alarm, her heart pounding rapidly with worry for her special friend as she slid off the sofa and hurried into the kitchen as fast as she could.

As she entered the kitchen, she saw Anger standing beside the counter with a plate of half-eaten tacos in front of him. Sadness stared at him in panic, her worst fears confirmed as she realized he was choking!

Anger stared back at her frantically. Tears were streaming down his face and his eyes bulged even more than Fear's as he pointed to a piece of taco shell and mince lying at his feet. A few sparks blazed on his head as he clutched at his throat and coughed desperately.

Sadness didn't know what came over her. She reacted instinctively as she ran up to Anger and wrapped her arms around his chest, squeezing him tight as she performed the Heimlich maneuver on her choking friend.

Anger gave a loud groan as a very large chunk of taco shell accompanied with mince and beans flew out of his mouth and stuck to the back wall with a wet PLOP!

The two Emotions watched in awe as the chewed up blob of taco slid down to the floor, leaving a greasy trial on the wall in its wake.

Still coughing as he struggled to catch his breath, Anger collapsed onto the floor beside his blue colleague, his eyes wide and voice trembling with shock as he wheezed, "Holy Guacamole Kid! You just saved my life!"

Sadness glanced down at him, her shock giving way to embarrassment as she whispered shyly, "Oh…it was nothing…"

Anger gave a startled grunt. "What do you mean nothing?! How did you know what to do Kiddo?!"

Sadness looked away, her cheeks blushing as she mumbled somberly, "Well I read about first aid and what to do in case of emergencies in one of the Mind Manuals…"

She glanced at the half-eaten taco on the floor and sighed gloomily. "There was a section in the Manual explaining what to do if someone is choking and when I saw what was happening to you, I remembered the instructions I read there."

Anger nodded slowly and flashed her a smile of appreciation. "Well I'm sure glad you were around Kiddo!"

He got to his feet stiffly and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he mumbled, "I just finished tidying up in here a few minutes ago and I thought I'd have a quick snack before going to bed…"

He shrugged and admitted guiltily, "I guess I eat too fast sometimes huh?"

Then he looked straight into her kind blue eyes and stated half-jokingly, "If you hadn't shown up when you did, you all probably would have found me lying here dead by the morning?!"

Sadness gasped at the awful thought and started crying softly. "Oh Anger! Don't say that!" She wept desolately.

Anger looked at her guiltily and offered a friendly smile as he leaned forward and began wiping away her tears with his thumb. Much to his alarm, instead of soothing her, Sadness started to bawl even louder and he quickly pulled his hand away as he watched the tears flowing down her face like miniature waterfalls!

"Oh please don't cry Kid!" The red Emotion begged as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close, her tears soaking his shirt within seconds as she cried onto his shoulder.

"Without you, I'd be lost in more ways than one." Anger confessed softly. As he spoke, he rubbed her back gently as he tried his best to comfort her.

Sadness sniffled and spluttered shakily, "I'd be lost without you as well Anger…"

She rubbed her eyes, which were beginning to get red and irritated with the back of her hand and sobbed hesitantly, "But I think you have some hot sauce on your thumbs because when you reached under my glasses, my eyes really started to burn!"

Anger released her and brought his hands up to his face, studying them carefully. Surely enough, he discovered that she was right…

The red Emotion chuckled sheepishly and gave her an apologetic smile. "Oh silly me! Just give me a minute to fix that…"

He rushed over to the kitchen sink and washed his hands thoroughly, grabbing a hand towel and wetting it under the tap before heading back to Sadness and gently wiping the tears and sauce from her face.

"There we go! Better now?" He asked softly.

Sadness nodded and gave him a weak smile. "Thank you Anger. You really helped make my day special…"

Anger returned her smile gladly and gently drew her into another hug, his voice full of admiration as he whispered, "The pleasure was all mine Kiddo! I'll always be right here for you, I promise!"

He tenderly kissed the top of her head as he held her fondly. Sadness leaned into his embrace, clearly enjoying the special moment between them.

As she hugged him back with equal enthusiasm, the little red Emotion made a silent promise to himself:

 _From now on, I am always going to protect her no matter what!_

 **THE END.**


End file.
